T  N 


JE 


THE  CHICAGO,  ROCK  ISLAND  &  PACIFIC  RY. 

The  combustion  of  COAL  for  the  generation  of  steam  which  furnishes  the  motive 
power  that  drives  the  ponderous  wheels  of  the  locomotives oi  the  "GREAT  ROCK 
ISLAND"  system,  is  one  of  the  most  important  uses  of  the  century  to  which  that 
material  has  "been  and  is  applied.  This  form  of  application  has  made  it  an  instrument 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  mankind,  and  especially  those,  who  df  ire  to  travel  to  any 
point  west,  southwest  or  northwest  from  Chicago.  L<-ss  than  a  century  ago,  the  vast 
territory  of  the  Middle  AVest  was  practically,  a  "howling"  wilderness— the  howlers 
being  chiefly  Indians  and  wild  animals.  Now  (as  this  map  shows.)  it  is  the  garden 
of  the  world,  thickly  populated,  and  dotted  at  frequent  intervals  with  prosperous  and 
beautiful  cities  and  towns. 


The  COAXitbat  supplies  tractile  strength  to  locomotives  of  the  "CIIKAT  HOIK 
ISLAND,"  has  accomplished  such  wonderful  results.  These  "Iron  Steeds,"— swift  as 
the  wind,  ever  active,  never  weary— draw  over  its  smooth  sled  track,  magnificent 
express  trains  daily  between  Chicago,  Council  I'.infTs,  Omaha,  St.  Joseph,  Atcluson. 
Leavenworth,  Kansas  City,  Minneapolis  and  St.  Psvu, (its  principal  termini,) where 
through  connections  are  made  (in  Union  Depot  si  to  .-md  from  California  and  all 
important  points  in  the  Inteimedlate  States  and  Territories. 

THE  CHICAGO,  KANSAS  &  NEBRASKA  RY. 

(ROCK   ISLAND   ROUTE.) 

extends  west  and  southwest  via  St.  .Joseph  and  Kansas  City,  to  1'^-atrice,  Falrbnry, 
Nelson,  Horton,  Topeka,  Belleville.  AVichita,  Hutchinson,  ilerington  Caldwell  and 
all  points  in  Southern  Nebraska,  interior  Kansas  and  beyond.  Track  and  roadway 
in  splendid  condition.  Bridges  of  si  one  and  iron.  Entire  passenger  equipment  of 
the  celebrated  Pullman  Co's  manufacture. 

"THE  FAMOUS  ALBERT  LEA  ROUTE  » 

is  the  favorite  between  Chicago,  St.  Joseph,  Kansas  City,  Peoria  and  Cedar  Rapids, 
Spirit  Lake.  Watertown,  Sioux  Falls,  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul.  The  popular  tourist 
line  to  the  hunting  and  fishing  grounds,  summer  resorts,  watering  places  and  scenic 
attractions  of  the  north  and  nort  Invest. 

The  Passenger  Conveniences,  Comforts  and  Luxuries  to  be  enjoyed  on  any  portion  of  the 
HOCK  ISLAND  SYSTEM  of  nearly  50<H)  miles  are  nowhere  excelled.  Its  splendid  Day  Coaches,  1  >ining 
Cars,  Pullman  Palace  Sleepers,  and  Reclining  Chair  Cars,  have  earned  a  world-wide  reputation. 
They  commend  themselves  not  only  to  the  "  Boys  and  Girls  of  America,"  but  to  adults  every  when*. 


Speed,  comfort,  safety,  and  the  full  inejusure  of  enjoyment  assured  to  all  who  trnvel  over  th    I 

"nation.     For  Tickets,  Maps.  Folders,  copies  c  J 
vst  Coupon  Ticket  Agent,  or  addres* 


GREAT  ROCK  ISLAND  to  or  from  any  destination. 
Western  Trail,  or  any  desired  information,  call  on  j'otir  nearest  C1 


ST.  JOHN, 

General  Manager. 


CHICAGO,  ILL. 


E.  A.  HOLBROOK, 

Gen'l  Ticket  &  Pass. 


AN    ACCOUNT    OF  THE    HOLIDAY    EXCURSION    OF    THE    BOYS    AND 
GIRLS    AMONG    THE    COAL    MINES,   BY 


MAN 


OF  THE  GREAT  ROCK  ISLAND  ROUTE 


Respectfully  Dedicated  to   the  Boys  and   Girls  of  America,  *by  the 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railway. 


CHICAGO: 

THE  J.  M.  W.  JONES  STATIONERY  AND  PRINTING  COMPANY, 
1888. 


BU| 


1 '  Coal  is  entitled  to  be  considered  as  the  mainspring  of  our  civiliza- 
tion. By  the  power  developed  in  its  combustion  all  the  wheels  of  industry 
are  kept  in  motion,  commerce  is  carried  with  rapidity  and  certainty  over 
all  portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  the  useful  metals  are  brought  from  the 
deep  caves  in  which  they  have  hidden  themselves,  and  are  purified  and 
wrought  to  serve  the  purposes  of  man.  By  coal  night  is,  in  one  sense, 
converted  into  day,  winter  into  summer,  and  the  life  of  man,  measured 
by  its  fruits,  greatly  prolonged.  Wealth,  with  all  the  comforts,  the  luxu- 
ries, and  the  triumphs  it  brings,  is  its  gift.  Though  black,  sooty,  and 
often  repulsive  in  its  aspects,  it  is  the  embodiment  of  a  power  more  potent 
than  that  attributed  to  the  genii  in  Oriental  tales.  Its  possession  is  there- 
fore, the  highest  material  boon  that  can  be  craved  by  a  community  or 
nation. 

"  Coal  is  also  not  without  its  poetry.  It  has  been  formed  under  the 
stimulus  of  the  sunshine  of  long-past  ages,  and  the  light  and  power  it 
holds  are  nothing  else  than  such  sunshine  stored  in  this  black  casket  t<  > 
wait  the  coming  and  to  serve  the  purposes  of  man." — PROF.  J.  S.  NEW- 
BERRY. 

*  *  *  "Above  all,  we  should  see  another  instance  of  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  Him  who  hath  in  so  wonderful  a  manner  placed  beneath 
our  feet  inexhaustless  quantities,  and  in  an  imperishable  form  the  *  stored- 
up  fuel  of  a  world.' "— MCFARLANE. 


COPYRIGHT,  EvBRiTTaSr.  J JHN,  i833. 


INTRODUCTION. 


With  the  return  of  the  joyous  holiday  season,  the  GREAT  ROCK  ISLAND 
ROUTE  adds  another  to  its  series  of  popular  little  volumes— this  being  the  fourth. 
It  is,  in  a  sense,  a  companion  book  to  that  of  last  year  (PETROLEUM  AND  NATURAL 
GAS),  treating  as  it  does,  and  in  much  the  same  manner,  of  another  and  an  even 
more  valuable  one  of  earth's  hidden  treasures. 

Under  the  title  of  ''CoAL  AND  COKE,"  the  present  number  aims  to  present  the 
most  important  facts  concerning  coal,  its  origin,  its  distribution,  the  methods  of 
mining  it,  preparing  it  for  and  transporting  it  to  market,  etc.,  etc.  To  present 
such  a  theme,  or  set  of  themes,  in  style  and  language  that  shall  be  readily  under- 
stood by  the  boys  and  girls,  to  whom  the  book  is  dedicated,  has  been  no 
light  task,  and  older  readers  will,  it  is  hoped,  pardon  the  frequent  repetitions  and 
the  oft-times  round-about  methods  of  presenting  matters,  deemed  necessary  to 
make  various  points  clear  to  the  youthful  mind.  It  has  been  the  aim  ever  kept  in 
mind  to  tell  the  story  of  coal  in  the  most  plain  and  simple,  yet  entertaining  and 
instructive  manner  possible,  all  circumstances  considered. 

For  very  much  of  our  national  wealth  and  importance  we  are  indebted  to  our 
wonderful  coal  deposits,  and  the  same  is  true  of  England  and  her  coal  beds.  The 
billowy  blackness  which  rolls  skyward  day  and  night,  from  tens  of  thousands  of 
great  smoke-stacks,  all  over  the  land,  attest  unmistakably  to  the  fact  that  our 
coal-beds  lie  at  the  foundation  of  very  much ,  indeed,  of  our  commercial  greatness. 
This  little  book  aims  to  afford  a  glimpse  at  the  operations  which  transform  our 
hidden,  slumbering  coal  beds  into  one  of  the  most  important  factors,  if  not  the 
most  important  factor,  entering  into  the  material  progress  of  the  wonderful  nine- 
teenth century.  It  is  hoped  this  glimpse  of  mining  operations,  including  the 
scenes  and  incidents  of  a  day  spent  "down  in  a  coal  mine,"  of  the  "towing"  of  coal 
on  some  of  our  great  rivers,  of  the  manufacture  of  coke,  and  of  illuminating  gas, 
etc.,  may  be  pleasing  to  every  one  who  reads  the  book. 

Again  wishing  you  a  "  Merry  Christmas  and  a  Happy  New  Year,"  I  remain 

YOUR  FRIEND, 

"A  MAN." 


M203599 


I. 


HOW  THE  EXCURSION  WAS  PLANNED. 


you  all  are,  again?  Well,  well,  I 
should  say  you  are  all  here  again,  sure 
enough  !  Ned,  Nell,  Tom,  Miss  Inquisi- 
tive, and  the  rest ;  and  not  only  so,  but  I 
see  a  good  many  new  faces  in  the  crowd — 
or  mob,  I  might  well  call  it.  Come  in, 
come  in — all  of  you  ;  glad  to  see  the  new- 
comers, as  well  as  to  see  my  friends  ol 
former  years,  again.  I  am  glad,  too, 
that  you  haven't  forgotten  me,  but  have 
remembered  me  and  have  cared  to  come 
to  visit  me.  Do  you — Oho  !  that's  your 

game,  is  it  ?  I  understand  it  all,  now— ha,  ha  !  You  old  acquaintances  have 
gathered  together  all  the  other  young  folks  you  know;  have  brought  them 
with  you  here;  and  now,  straightway,  almost  before  you  are  in  the  house, 
the  whole  party  besieges  and  beseeches  me  to  be  taken  upon  another  ex- 
cursion !  A  very  shrewd  trick,  indeed,  youngsters,  and  in  the  hands  of 
such  a  band  of  schemers  and  conspirators,  I  fear  I  will  have  to  surrender 
and  agree  to  another  sight-seeing  tour.  But  where — dear  me,  what  a 
racket !  one  would  think  you  had  just  been  promised  the  most  handsome 
Christmas  present  to  be  found,  to  hear  and  see  such  rejoicing  !  There, 
now,  that  will  do.  I  was  just  about — Miss  Inquisitive,  can't  you  settle 
down  at  all  ?— just  about  to  ask  where  we  should  go  ;  however,  as  you 
have  got  me  into  this  trouble,  I'll  just  let  you  get  me  out  of  it,  at  least,  so 
far  as  the  decision  as  to  where  we  shall  go,  and  what  to  see,  is  concerned. 
Can't,  eh  ?  Come,  put  your  heads  together,  and  see  if  you  can't.  Put  on 
your  thinking-caps,  and  while  you  enjoy  its  warmth,  look  steadily  and 
earnestly  into  the  fire,  among  the  glowing  coals— a  plan  much  practiced 
and  highly  praised  by  poets,  philosophers  and  others,  as  greatly  aiding 
hard  thinking. 

While  you  all  are  thinking  as  hard  as  you  can,  I'll  take  a  little  nap, 
and  you  can  wake  me  up  when  you  decide  the— well,  Miss  Inquisitive, 


\6.  .:  WHERE  SHALL  WE  GO? 

•  whaHs'it*?*  Yoti'Vft'hif  upoft'the  plan,  have  you  ?  Oh  !  just  want  to  ask  a 
question  ;  I  might  have  known  that,  to  be  sure.  I  see  you  haven't  given 
up  your  old  occupation  ;  a  great  girl  for  questions,  you  are — a  regular 
query-box.  Well,  what  do  you  want  to  know  this  time  ?  My  !  what  a 
question  !  What  makes  that  lump  of  coal  burn  ?  I  might  say  that  the  fire 
makes  the  coal  burn,  but  then  you'd  be  sure  to  ask  if  it  wasn't  the  burning 
of  the  coal  that  makes  the  fire,  and  we  would  be  back  at  the  starting 
point,  again.  Suppose,  though,  we  put  your  question  this  way  :  Why 
does  the  coal  burn  ?  and  then  we  will  have  it  in  better  shape  for  an  answer. 
I  might,  now,  tell  you,  after  the  manner  of  the  big  books  which  your  big 
brothers  and  sisters  study,  that  coal  burns  because  it  is  composed  of 
highly  inflammable  and  combustible  elements  ;  but  to  put  it  in  plain, 
everyday  language,  which  boys  and  girls  of  your  age  can  understand,  I 
will  answer  that  coal  burns  because  it  is  composed,  or  made  up,  we  will 
say,  in  part  of  certain  gases— oxygen  and  hydrogen— which  ignite,  or  take 
fire,  as  I  heard  Ned  say,  a  while  ago — take  fire  and  burn  very  easily  and 
quickly.  These  gases  and  the  other  substances  or  elements  of  which  coal 
— but  dear  me  !  I  mustn't  begin  to  tell  you  more  particularly,  now, 
about  how  these  gases,  etc.,  come  to  be  in  the  coal,  as  that  would  make  a 
long  story,  carrying  us  back  to  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  coal-bed 
from  which  these  pieces  have  been  taken,  and  our  talking  about  it  would 
interfere  with  the  hard  thinking  going  on  amongst  the  others,  you  know. 
Some  other  day  I'll  tell  you  all — well,  I  declare  !  every  one  of  you  listen- 
ing to  what  we  two  have  been  saying,  when,  as  we  supposed,  you  were 
busily  puzzling  your  young  heads  over  the  question,  Where  shall  we  go  ? 
'  Go  on  with  the  coal  story  ?'  Oh,  no  ;  better  not  begin  it  now,  as  we 
would  likely  be  led  on  from  one  point  to  another,  talking  about  how 
coal  was  formed  or  made;  where  it  is  found;  how  it  is  mined  or  taken  from 
the  ground,  and — why,  that's  just  the  thing,  Ned  !  All  in  favor  of  an 
excursion  among  the  coal  mines,  say  aye.  Whew  !  what  a  shout  !  Those 
opposed,  say  no.  Carried,  unanimously,  as  the  big  fplks  say.  To  the 
coal  mines  we  will  go,  then,  as  soon  as  we  can  get  ready.  Miss  Inquisi- 
tive, we  owe  to  you,  after  all,  through  your  question,  the  settlement  of  the 
where-to-go  question.  You  shall  have  especial  consideration  shown  you, 
hereafter.  " 


II. 

"WHERE  SHALL  WE  GO?" 

"Now,  having  decided  to  visit  the  coal  mines,  we  must  further  decide 
upon  the  particular  coal  region  or  field  to  be  visited.  Shall  we  cross  the 
ocean  and  visit  the  mines  of  England  or — ?  Eh?  you  won't  cross  the 
ocean, — nor  you  ? — nor  you  ? — nor  you  ? — nor — .  Well,  we  may  consider 
it  settled  that  we  won't  undertake  a  sea  voyage  in  our  search  for 


OUR  LITTLE  WORLD.  7 

knowledge.  To -what  coal-producing  region  of  our  own  country,  then, 
shall  we  go  ?  There  are  several — Oh,  no,  Tom,  it  doesn't  all  come  from 
the  same  place  ;  I  was  just  about  to  say  that  there  are  a  number  of  coal- 
producing  States  in  the  Union — some  producing  but  a  small  quantity , 
others,  millions  of  tons,  yearly.  Can  any  of  you  name  some  of  the  coal- 
producing  States?  Yes,  that's  right— Indiana ;  what  others?  Yes, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Tennessee.  Any  more?  You  must  have  for- 
gotten the  '  chief  products, '  as  given  for  some  of  the  States  in 
your  geographies.  A  number  of  others,  some  of  them  producing 
large  quantities  of  coal,  as  Ohio  and  West  Virginia,  might  be  named. 
Well,  to  which  shall  we  go?  Ned  says,  Pennsylvania.  I  recollect,  as 
perhaps  some  of  the  rest  of  you  do,  that  he  was  very  much  interested  in 
the  matter  of  coal  mining  last  year,  owing  to  the  frequent  glimpses  he  had 
of  mines  and  miners,  while  going  about  among  the  oil  wells.  I  suspect 
that  it  is  a  long  cherished  desire  to  visit  some  of  those  mines  and  to  talk, 
perhaps,  with  some  of  those  grimy-faced  coal-diggers,  that  leads  him  to 
suggest  that  we  go  to  Pennsylvania.  Ah,  I  thought  so.  Well,  your 
choice  is  a  good  one,  Ned  ;  not  just  because  it  suits  your  especial  desires, 
but  because  in  the  matter  of  coal,  as  in  that  of  oil,  Pennsylvania  offers  the 
best  field  for  studying  the  work  of  producing,  shipping,  etc.,  in  all  its 
departments.  We  would  find  in  Pennsylvania,  should  we  go  there,  such 
coal  fields  as  we  could  find  nowhere  else— great  fields  too,  of  quite  differ- 
ent kinds  of  coal.  We  could,  too,  see  the  wonderful  coke  region  with 
its  thousands  of  great  coke  ovens,  and— Oh,  dear  !  too  many  questions  to 
answer  at  once  ;  nor  would  we  have  time  to  answer  them  singly,  f  I  see 
no  way  out  of  the  matter  but  to  accept  Ned's  suggestion,  and  agree  to  ac- 
company him  to  Pennsylvania.  Does  anybody  move  that  we  visit  the 
coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania?  Ah!  yes,  and  the  motion  seconded  by  a 
dozen.  All  in  favor  of  the  motion,  say  aye  ;— whew!  no  need  to  call  for 
the  noes  in  this  case.  It  is  decided,  then,  that  we  make  a  holiday  excur- 
sion among  the  Pennsylvania  coal  mines,  and  that  we  start,  say  next — 
well,  as  soon  as  Miss  Ruffleton  and  some  of  the  other  girls  can  get  ready 
to  go  ;  the  boys  could  all  start  this  minute,  for  that  matter.  " 


in. 

OUR  LITTLE  WORLD. 

"As  it  is,  generally,  an  advantage  to  be  posted,  in  advance,  in  regard 
to  matters  with  which  we  may  have  to  deal,  it  will  not  be  amiss,  since  we 
are  now  together,  to  spend  the  remainder  of  the  afternoon  in  considering 
some  of  the  facts  and  theories  in  regard  to  coal — how  and  when  it  was 
formed  or  made,  where  it  is  found,  etc. ;  things  which  seeing  it  mined, 
shipped  and  used  would  not  tell  us. 

At  the  outset,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  take  a  look  at  the  world 


8  OUR    LITTLE   WORLD. 

we  live  in — or  upon,  rather— as  a  whole,  before  we  enter  upon  the  exam- 
ination of  the  facts  and  theories  which,  as  we  shall  proceed,  will  narrow 
our  field  of  observation  until  we  may  not  only  find  ourselves  confined  to 
some  one  particular  coal  region,  but  may,  indeed,  even  be  shut  up,  for  a 
time,  in  some  dark,  damp  and  dismal  coal-pit  or  mine — 'where,'  as  the 
song  says,  '  no  ray  of  sunshine  ever  can  be  found.' 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  our  earth — the  world,  as 
we  call  it — is  but  a  small  affair,  in  a  sense.  Ha,  ha  !  Miss  Inquisitive,  you 
think  '  it's  a  pretty  big  place,'  eh?  You  find  plenty  of  room  for  questions, 
anyway;  don't  you  ?  Well,  it  would  be  '  a  big  place,'  indeed,  if  we  did 
not  know  of  so  many  other  and  vastly  larger  worlds,  as  we  are  told  ot 
them  by  the  astronomers — the  men  who  are  familiar  with  the  facts  in 
regard  to  the  sun,  moon  and  stars.  In  other  words,  our  world  is  but  one 
of  countless  thousands  of  worlds  which  we  see  all  about  us — the  stars,  we 
call  them.  I  said,  all  about  us  ;  they  are  all  about  us,  that  is,  all  around 
us,  but  at  wonderful  distances  from  us — millions,  billions,  trillions  of  miles 
from  us  ;  distances  which  we  cannot  comprehend  at  all.  The  sun,  from 
which  we  get  our  light  and  heat,  is  1,245,000  times  as  large  as  our  earth — 
*  big  place '  as  it  appears  to  Miss  Inquisitive,  and  to  all  of  us  for  that 
matter  ;  while  all  the  stars  we  can  see,  together  with  almost  numberless 
others  which  can  be  seen  only  by  the  use  of  great  telescopes,  so  great 
is  their  distance  from  us —  all  these,  the  astronomers  tell  us,  are  other 
suns,  which  may  be  as  large  as,  or  perhaps  larger  than,  our  own  large  sun. 
So  great  is  the  distance  of  some  of  these  stars — or  suns,  as  we  are  to 
think  of  them —  that  (so  the  astronomers  tell  us)  the  light  which  comes  to 
us  from  them  has  been  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  years  in  reaching 
us  !  although  light  travels,  it  has  been  learned,  at  the  wonderful  speed  ot 
183,000  miles  per  second — or  more  than  seven  times  the  distance  around 
our  earth  while  you  wink  !  You  will  understand  these  things  of  which  I 
have  just  spoken,  as  well  as  learn  very  many  more  wonderful  facts  about 
our  earth,  the  sun,  moon,  planets  and  stars,  when  you  take  up  the  study 
of  astronomy  ;  at  present,  however,  we  can  not  stop  to  talk  about  them, 
as  we  have  other  business  on  hand,  you  know.  But  the  statements  I  have 
made  are  sufficient,  in  themselves,  to  show  you  that  our  world  is  but  one 
— and  a  comparatively  small  one  at  that —  of  untold  numbers  of  worlds 
which  throng  the  space  around  -us — the  universe,  we  call  it ;  it  is  as  a 
single  grain  of  sand  in  that  great  heap  of  sand  and  pebbles,  which  you  see 
across  the  way ! 

But  we  started  out  to  talk  about  coal ;  and  why,  then,  should  we  go 
away  off  among  the  stars  ?  you  may  be  asking  yourselves.  Well,  for  sev- 
eral reasons.  One  of  them  is,  the  desire  to  set  some  of  you  to  thinking, 
reading  and  studying  about  the  wonders  of  astronomy — which  I  trust  it 
may.  Another  is,  to  present  a  truth  which  I  would  have  you  keep  in 
mind  when  we  come  to  consider  some  facts  in  regard  to  our  own  earth, 
in  particular, — that  everything  in  the  great  universe,  of  which  our  earth  is 
but  a  small  part,  as  we  have  seen,  is  controlled  or  governed  by  certain 


OUR    LITTLE   WORLD.  9 

laws  ;  tliat  nothing  is  of  chance  or  mere  happening,  but  has  been  made 
what  it  is,  as  it  is,  and  placed  where  it  is,  in  accordance  with  a  great  plan 
or  order  of  things,  as  designed  and  only  fully  understood  by  the  great 
Creator. 

As  young  astronomers,  you  will  learn  that  not  only  is  the  universe 
crowded,  as  I  have  already  stated,  with  almost  countless  worlds,  but  that 
all  these  worlds,  as  well  as  our  own,  are  whirling  or  shooting  through 
space  at  a  most  astonishing  speed,  and  never  stopping  or  pausing,  either, 
in  their  wonderful  flight !  But  you  will  learn  more  than  this.  You  will 
learn  that  all  their  movements  are  controlled  by  certain  laws  ;  that  they 
are  not  flying  about  helter-skelter,  as  it  were,  without  direction  or  aim  or 
purpose,  and  at  the  risk  of  frightful  collisions  with  each  other,  but  that  all 
their  courses  are  fixed,  each  having  its  own  path  or  orbit,  from  which  it 
can  not  stray  or  wander,  and  that  throughout  all  the  ages  they  have  been 
flying,  at  most  terrific  speed,  (our  earth,  more  than  1,000  miles  a  min- 
ute !)  around  and  around  their  great  circular  orbits,  *  and  yet  with  a  reg- 
ularity which  never  varies  even  the  smallest  fraction  of  a  second,  so  that 
thousands  of  years  in  advance  astronomers  can  say  where  a  planet  or 
star  will  be,  at  a  certain  second !  Wonderful,  isn't  it  ? 

Now,  there  is  a  point  in  this,  for  us,  taking  it  in  connection  with  the 
littleness  of  our  earth  as  compared  with  the  vast  universe.  How  the 
wonders  of  our  own  little  world  shrink  and  fade,  as  our  thought  carries 
us  out  among  all  the  other  and  greater  worlds  !  It  is  easy  to  see,  now, 
how  the  One  who  could  create  all  these  other  worlds,  (tossing  them  out, 
as  it  were,  into  space,  putting  each  in  its  place  and  appointing  each  its 
course  through  the  heavens,  and  holding  them  all  there  by  unseen 
power,)  could  create  our  one  little  world,  just  as  it  pleased  Him — putting 
an  ocean  here,  and  a  continent  or  an  island  there ;  hollowing  out  the 
valleys,  building  the  mountains  and  spreading  out  the  plains ;  clothing 
the  earth  with  grass  and  flowers  and  trees,  and  filling  it  with  beasts  and 
birds  ;  and  finally  peopling  it,  when  at  last  made  ready  for  man's  home. 
As  throughout  all  the  rest  of  the  great  universe,  so  throughout  our  little 
world — a  plan  and  purpose  is  everywhere  seen.  Our  earth  has  been 
fitted  up  for  man's  use,  and  all  that  he  needs  has  been  prepared  for  him 
— prepared  for  him  before  he  was  created. 

Among  the  things  thus  prepared  for  us,  and  of  which  we  find  an 
abundant  store,  is  coal — to  a  consideration  of  some  of  the  facts  and 
theories  concerning  which  we  will  now  more  directly  give  our  attention." 

*  The  orbits  are  not  exactly  circular,  but  are  slightly  flattened  circles,  we  may 
be  permitted  to  call  them-ellipses,  correctly  speaking. 


io  GEOLOGY    AND    GEOLOGISTS. 


IV. 

A    WORD    ABOUT    GEOLOGY   AND    GEOLO- 
GISTS. 

"First,  then,  let  us  see  what  maybe  learned  about  how  coal  was 
formed.  But  before  we  begin,  please  punch  that  big  lump  of  coal  with 
the  poker,  Ned,  and  let's  have  a  rousing  fire.  Now,  come  up  closer,  all 
of  you;  there,  that's  both  comfortable  and  cheerful,  isn't  it?  Now,  to 
begin. 

You  all  know,  I  suppose — anyway,  I've  been  taking  it  for  granted 
that  you  all  know — that  coal  is  taken  from  the  ground.  It  is  not  some- 
thing made  by  men,  but  was  prepared  for  men  by  GOD,  in  His  wisdom 
and  goodness,  long  ago— just  how  long  ago  we  cannot  tell.  Ha  !  ha  !  at  it 
already,  Miss  Inquisitive.  How  was  it  prepared,  eh  ?  Well,  we  must  go 
to  the  geologists  for  an  answer  to  your  question,  mi'am,  as  we  did  last 
winter  when  we  wanted  to  know  how  oil  and  natural  gas  were  formed  or 
made.  For  the  benefit  of  the  new  members  of  our  company,  I  will  re- 
peat the  explanation  then  made  in  regard  to  geologists  and  geology, 
adding,  perhaps,  a  little  more  than  then  given.  The  word  geology  has 
been  formed  by  the  union  of  two  Greek  words  — get  meaning  the 
earth,  and  logos,  meaning  a  discourse,  or  talk,  we  may  say  ;  the 
word  geology,  then,  means  a  talk  about  the  earth — its  structure,  etc., 
and  of  the  changes  which  it  has  undergone.  Geology  is  the  science 
which  treats  of  the  earth's  structure  and  its  development  or  progress  in 
the  formation  of  rocks,  progress  in  forms  of  life,  animal  and  vegetable, 
etc.  Geologists  are  the  persons  who  have  learned,  and  who  give  to  us, 
the  facts  of  geology. 

What,  then,  can  we  learn  from  the  geologists  ?  Well,  while  they 
cannot  tell  us  everything  we  may  want  to  know,  they  can,  at  least,  give 
us  very  much  information,  and  some  of  it  most  wonderful,  too,  in  regard 
to  the  formation,  long  ago,  of  the  coal  which  is  now  being  taken  from  the 
hills  and  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  some  of  which  is  blazing  and  glow- 
ing, so  much  to  our  comfort,  this  chilly  day,  in  the  fireplace  before  us. 
And  while  we  are  thus  enjoying  its  cheerful  presence,  I  will  try  to  pre- 
sent to  you  some  geological  facts,  as  made  known  to  us  by  the  learned 
geologists. 

Those  of  you  who  were  in  our  company  last  winter  are  already 
familiar  with  many  of  these  facts,  but  you  will  not,  I  am  sure,  be  un- 
willing to  have  them  again  stated,  for  the  benefit  of  our  new  members, 


GEOLOGY    AND    GEOLOGISTS.  n 

especially  as  I  may  speak  more  fully  in  regard  to  some  of  them,  some 
having  been,  indeed,  little  more  than  merely  mentioned  before. 

The  geologists,  then,  tell  us  of  great  and  wonderful  changes  which 
have  taken  place  upon  and  within  our  earth.  Even  now,  indeed, 
changes  are  occurring,  by  reason  of  earthquakes  and  other  mighty 
forces ;  but  the  changes  to  which  I  refer  took  place  long,  long  ago,  be- 
fore GOD  had  created  people  to  live  upon  the  earth — because  it  was  not 
yet  ready  for  them— and  these  changes  were  far  4iiore  wonderful  and 
powerful  in  effect  than  the  earthquakes  and  volcanoes  of  the  present 
time.  Just  how  long  ago  these  changes  began  which  have  resulted  in 
producing  the  earth  as  we  find  it  now,  even  the  geologists  cannot  tell 
us  ;  it  is  known  only  to  Him  of  whom  the  great  Psalmist  wrote  :  '  Be- 
fore the  mountains  were  brought  forth  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the 
earth  or  the  world;  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  GOD.' 
The  Bible  tells  us  that  at  the  beginning  the  *  earth  was  without  form 
and  void/  not  the  beautiful  world  it  now  is,  with  its  hills  and  valleys, 
mountains  and  plains,  its  fields  and  forests,  its  rivers,  lakes  and  oceans, 
and  all  the  forms  of  life  we  see  about  us  ;  all  these  things  were  then  but 
on  the  mind  of  GOD,  who  was  creating  the  world  and  fitting  and  prepar- 
ing it  for  us,  with  all  our  varied  wants  and  needs,  when ,  after  all  else 
should  be  made  ready,  man  should  be  created. 

To  learn  something  of  the  wondrous  plan  of  the  earth's  creation  and 
of  its  gradual  perfecting,  has  been  the  study  of  geologists.  Many  facts 
have  been  established,  while  many  theories  or  opinions  have  been  offered, 
to  account  for  some  of  these  facts  not  fully  understood.  The  geologists 
are  able  to  tell  us  very  much  about  the  structure  of  the  earth,  as  by  long 
and  patient  search  and  study  they  have  learned  many  things  ;  but  in  re- 
gard to  other  things,  they  are  in  doubt  and  are  not  agreed  among  them- 
selves. They  can  tell  us  what  and  how  some  things  are,  but  differ  with 
each  other,  and  cannot  speak  positively  as  to  how  these  things  have  come 
to  be  what  they  are,  how  they  are  and  where  they  are.  You  will  recollect, 
some  of  you,  that  this  uncertainty  was  met  with,  a  year  ago,  in  our  efforts 
to  learn  how  petroleum  and  natural  gas  have  been  formed  in  the  depths 
of  the  earth  ;  and  we  may  find  the  same  uncertainty  again,  as  we  seek  to 
learn  all  we  may  about  the  formation  of  coal.  But  while  there  are  doubts 
and  differences  as  to  some  points,  we  shall  find  geologists  nearly  all  agreed 
touching  what  are  given  to  us  as  the  main  facts  in  regard  to  the  formation 
of  coal. 

While  many  things  are  hidden  from  the  knowledge  of  man,  so  that 
he  is  not  permitted  to  understand  fully  the  great  work  and  mystery  of 
creation,  yet  it  has  pleased  the  great  Creator  to  leave  such  signs  and  evi- 
dences of  how  very  much  of  the  great  work  which  has  given  us  the  earth 
as  it  now  is  has  been  carried  on,  that  the  geologists,  reading  these  signs 
and  interpreting  them,  have  given  us  various  theories  or  opinions  in  regard 
to  some  of  the  great  facts  concerning  the  earth's  formation, — some  of 
which  theories  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  true  and  correct. 


GEOLOGY    AND    GEOLOGISTS.  13 

Thaf  our  earth  has  not  always  been  as  it  is  now,  but  has  passed 
through  many  very  great  and  wonderful  changes  since  first  formed,  is  a 
fact  agreed  upon  by  all  who  have  given  the  matter  sufficient  thought  to 
have  formed  an  opinion  at  all.  These  changes,  however  many  and  won- 
derful, have  not  been  the  result  of  chance  or  accident— that  is,  without 
direction  and  without  aim  or  purpose  ;  the  contrary  is  the  case.  As  I 
said,  a  little  while  ago,  everywhere  in  nature  is  to  be  seen  a  wonderful 
plan,  into  which  all  of  the  great  changes  alluded  to  fit,  each  in  its  place, 
and  all  working  toward  one  great  end.  As  the  learned  Prof.  Dana,  an 
eminent  geologist,  says,  an  '  Infinite  Mind  has  guided  all  events  toward 
the  great  end  — a  world  for  mind,'  and,  'the  earth  has,  under  this  guid~ 
ance  and  appointed  law,  passed  through  a  regular  course  of  history  or 
growth.'  Some  of  these  changes  are  of  especial  interest  to  us  in  search- 
ing for  the  origin  of  coal  and  the  manner  of  its  formation,  as  now  seen  in 
'  beds ; '  and  at  these  changes,  with  some  others,  perhaps,  as  the  geolo- 
gists describe  them,  we  will  glance. 

Stir  up  the  fire  again,  Nell —  that's  good  !  Now  for  the  geology  of 
the  coal-fields." 


v. 

THE  CARBONIFEROUS  ERA-FORMATION  OF 
THE  COAL  BEDS. 

"That  the  hard,  black  lumps  we  see  burning  in  the  fire  before  us 
and  which  we  call  coal,  is  of  vegetable  origin — that  is,  that  it  is  composed 
of  the  greatly  changed  remains  of  plants  which  grew  and  flourished  long 
ago — is  now  perhaps  a  generally  believed  opinion.  I  say  perhaps,  because 
there  have  been  some,  and  there  may  yet  be  some,  who  believe  that  coal 
has  not  been  formed  from  old  time  plants,  etc.,  but  that  it  has  been  pro- 
duced or  made  in  another  way  ;  but  there  are  so  many  evidences  of  its 
vegetable  or  plant  origin,  that  few  persons,  if  any,  now  believe  any  other 
theory  as  to  its  formation,  or  production. 

But  then,  again,  while  geologists  may  agree  as  to  the  vegetable  origin 
of  coal,  there  are  yet  differences  of  opinion  as  to  how  the  changes  were 
brought  about  which  turned — converted,  the  books  would  term  it — the 
plants  of  that  long-gone  time  into  the  'beds'  of  coal  from  which  we  now 
so  largely  draw  the  supplies  of  fuel  which  warms  our  houses  (and  lights 
many  of  them,  too,)  and  cooks  our  food,  and  which  makes  the  steam  that 
moves  the  machinery  in  nearly  all  of  our  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
mills  and  factories,  and  sends  the  railroad  trains  speeding  across  the 
continents,  and  the  steamboats  and  steamships  up  and  down  our  rivers 
and  over  the  pathless  oceans.  As  concerning  the  formation  of  oil  and 
natural  gas— as  we  found  last  winter — so  in  regard  to  the  formation  of 
the  coal  beds,— there  are  different  theories  held  by  geologists,  based  upon 


14  THE    CARBONIFEROUS    ERA. 

what  is,  to  them,  satisfactory  evidence,  in  each  case.  We  will  examine 
some  of  these  theories,  as  briefly  as  the  case  will  permit,  for  you  must 
know  that  considerable  geological  history  is  to  be  touched  upon  in  the 
course  of  such  an  examination. 

To  begin,  then,  I  will  state  that  the  geologists  divide  the  history  of 
the  earth's  development — that  is,  the  formation  of  rock  beds,  etc.  —into  a 
number  of  ages,  the  ages  being  again  divided  into  periods,  and  these 
again,  into  epochs — all  of  which  you  will  understand  better  when  you  are 
older.  I  may  have  to  speak  of  these  divisions  in  a  somewhat  general 
way,  but  need  not  stop  to  explain,  particularly,  in  regard  to  them.  Of 
the  longest  divisions,  or  ages,  there  are  seven :  First,  the  Archcsan  ; 
second,  the  Silurian ;  third,  the  Devonian ;  fourth,  the  Carboniferous; 
fifth,  the  Reptilian;  sixth,  the  Mammalian;  seventh,  the  Age  of  Ma//. 
Each  of  these  ages  has  its  beds  or  strata  of  rock,  very  many  of  them,  and 
of  various  thicknesses,  several  strata  of  the  same  kind  occurring,  with 
others  between.  The  same  kind  of  rocks  are  found,  too,  in  different 
ages,  and  all  these  strata  of  all  these  seven  divisions,  taken  together — 
a  thickness  of  20  miles,  or  more — make  up  the  earth,  so  far  as  we  see  it 
and  know  it.  The  Archaean  rocks,  granite,  gneiss,  marble,  etc.,  are 
.the  lowest  rocks,  forming  the  ocean  bed,  I  may  state.  On  these  are  the 
rocks  of  the  next  age,  and  so  on,  to  the  last  rocks  formed,  at  the  top  of 
all. 

It  is  with  the  fourth,  or  Carboniferous  age,  that  we  shall  have  espe- 
cially to  deal  in  our  study  of  the  origin  and  the  manner  of  formation  of 
the  coal-beds.  Indeed,  it  is  the  presence  of  the..coal-beds  among  the 
other  rocks  that  gives  the  name  carboniferous  to  this  age  ;  coal  is  com- 
posed largely  of  carbon,  as  we  shall  see,  and  hence  the  name  carboni- 
ferous— abounding  in  carbon. 

As  just  stated,  the  beds  ot  coal  are  among — that  is,  they  lie  between 
— other  rock  strata,  and — well,  Mollie,  what  is  it?  Ah,  yes,  I've  forgot- 
ten that  some  of  you  were  not  with  us  last  year  and,  therefore,  do  not 
understand  some  of  the  statements  I  have  made,  or  even  some  of  the 
words  used.  Ned  and  the  others  of  last  year's  party  must  wait  here,  now, 
until  the  rest  of  you  catch  up,  as  it  were ;  but  lest  they  grow  impatient,  I 
will  make  the  necessary  explanations  as  brief  as  possible. 

All  the  beds  of  rock — hundreds  of  them,  and  of  various  kinds  and 
thicknesses— which  lie  upon  or  above  the  lowest  rocks — the  granite,  etc., 
— are  what  are  known  as  sedimentary  rocks  ;  that  is,  they  were  deposited 
where  now  found,  by  water,  as  sediment — sand,  gravel,  mud,  etc.  The 
geologists  tell  us  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  what  is  now  our  dry  land,  was 
once — indeed,  may  have  been  many  times — covered  by  water  ;  the  ocean 
now  sweeping  and  spreading  in,  and  again  flowing  off  and  out,  as  the 
land  sank  or  rose  by  reason  of  earthquakes  or  other  great  forces.  As  the 
waters  swept  over  the  land,  they  brought  with  them  sand,  gravel,  etc., 
broken  or  worn  from  the  older  rocks,  and  these,  of  course,  settled  to  the 
bottom  of  the  water,  covering  the  rocks  below.  Sometimes,  a  great 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS    ERA.  15 

depth  or  thickness  of  this  sediment  jwould  be  thus  deposited  ;  while  at 
other  times  a  thinner  bed  of  it  would  be  formed.  Thus,  one  bed  upon  an- 
other was  deposited ;  and  these,  hardening  under  the  pressure  of  those 
above  them,  and  of  the  water  itself,  became  beds  of  stone— mainly  the  beds 
of  what  we  now  call  sandstones — (of  various  kinds,  in  the  matters  of  color, 
hardness,  etc.,)  conglomerates,  etc.  The  beds  of  limestone,  which  many  of 
you,  I'm  sure,  have  seen,  were  formed  in  another  manner — from  the  depos- 
its of  great  quan- 
tities of  shells  of 
very  tiny  animals, 
i  with  which  the 
waters  abounded ; 
| also,  perhaps, from 
the  remains  of 
other  small  sea 
animals,  such  as 
the  beautiful  crin- 
oids,  or  'sea lilies,' 
as  they  are  some- 
times called,  from 
their  very  great  re- 

ROCK  STRATA,  AS  IN  BITUMINOUS  COAL  REGION.  SCmblanCC  to  HllfeS. 

Those  of  you  who  have  had  an  opportunity  to  see  the  edges  or  faces 
of  the  rock-beds,  in  railroad  cuts,  quarries  or  steep  hillsides,  have  noticed 
that  the  beds  are  not  all  of  the  same  thickness,  some  being  but  shallow  or 
thin,  while  others  are  of  great  thickness  or  depth  ;  also,  that  the  same 
bed  may  be  thicker  in  some  places  than  in  others.  These  differences  were 
caused  by  the  difference  in  the  quantity  of  sediment  deposited  at  each 
time  and  place — in  some  cases  but  a  comparatively  small  quantity  ;  in 
others,  a  very  large  quantity.  You  will  have  noticed,  too,  that  any  bed  is 
not  one  solid  piece  throughout  its  whole  depth,  but  that  it  is  made  up  of  a 
number  of  layers,  of  various  thicknesses,  as  we  see  in  what  we  call  'flag- 
stones,' which  are  taken,  layer  after  layer,  from  the  bed.  Each  bed,  as 
made  up  of  these  layers,  few  or  many,  is  called  a  stratum;  when  we  speak 
of  more  than  one  bed  we  say,  not  stratums,  but  strata — the  word  which 
Mollie  did  not  understand.  Because  of  this  arrangement  of  the  rocks  in 
regular  beds  or  strata,  they  have  been  given  the  general  name  of  strata- 
fied  rocks.  Now,  I  think  you  all  understand  these  points,  and  we  will 
take  up  our  story  again. 

Where  were  we  ?  Oh,  yes  ;  I  was  just  saying,  when  Mollie  put  her 
question,  that  we  find  the  coal-beds,  or  strata,  occurring  among  other 
strata — of  sandstone,  limestone,  slate,  shale,  clay,  iron-ore,  etc.  And 
the  question  which  I  see  in  the  eyes  of  each  of  you  is,  How  did  they  get 
there  ?  How,  indeed  ?  * 

s.  I  have  already  stated,  or  have  given  you  to  understand,  at  least, 
that  our  coal-beds  are  found  among  the  strata  of  what  the  geologists 


16  THE    CARBONIFEROUS    ERA. 

call  the  carboniferous  age  or  era.  Now,  for  a  description  of  that  period. 
The  carboniferous  era  is  divided  by  geologists  into  three  periods — 
first,  the  Sub-carboniferous;  second,  the  Carboniferous  proper — or  coal- 
measures;  and,  third,  the  Permian.  The  sub-carboniferous  period  (sub 
meaning  under)  was  what  may  be  called  a  time  of  preparation  for  what 
was  to  follow.  The  sea  covered  the  land,  and  there  were  deposits  of 
limestone,  sandstones  and  shales,  with  a  few  thin  seams  of  coal — which 
are  sometimes  called  the  false  coal-measures.  Then  followed  the  true 
carboniferous  period— the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  great  coal-beds, 
as  we  shall  see.  Following  this,  again,  and  closing  this  age  or  era,  was 
the  Permian  period. 

Passing  over  the  sub-carboniferous  period,  which  has  been  briefly 
described,  let  us  enter  the  second  or  true  carboniferous  period,  and  see 
the  formation  of  the  coal-beds.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period  we  find 
the  land  covered  with  water,  in  which  flourished  myriads  of  crinoids  or 
sea-lilies — which  became  the  upper  limestone  of  the  sub-carboniferous 
period.  Currents  and  waves  now  swept  over  and  buried  all  under  a 
great  depth  of  sand  and  pebbles — which  later  hardened  into  the  stone 
now  known  as  the  millstone  grit,  and  which  underlies  the  great  coal- 
beds.  This  millstone  grit  is  as  mnch  as  1,500  feet  thick  in  parts  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Above  this,  lying  between  various  rock  strata,  we  find  the 
beds  of  coal — making  up  altogether,  however,  but  about  one-fiftieth 
(sVth)  of  the  total  thickness  of  all  the  strata  of  the  carboniferous,  or  coal- 
measure,  period. 

During  this  period  there  were  many  successive  risings  and  sinkings  of 
the  land — the  water  sometimes  being  quite  deep,  and  at  other  times 
barely  covering  the  surface,  with  parts,  here  and  there,  not  covered  at 
all.  It  was  during  such  times  as  those  last  mentioned — periods  of  shal- 
low water,  producing  vast  swamps  or  marshes — that  the  coal-beds,  or 
what  are  now  the  coal-beds,  were  deposited.  Over  these  marshes  vege- 
tation sprang  up — a  vegetation  such  as  does  not  now  exist,  excepting  to 
some  extent,  in  the  hot  tropical  countries.  The  temperature  was  much 
higher  then  than  now,  both  water  and  air  being  very  warm,  the  air  being 
also  very  moist  and  highly  charged — filled,  that  is — with  carbonic  acid,  a 
gas  composed  of  carbon  and  oxygen.  These  conditions  of  water  and  air 
produced  a  most  wonderful  growth  of  every  form  of  vegetation  then 
existing.  You  all  are  aware  that  trees,  plants  and  all  forms  of  vegetation 
grow  most  rapidly  and  luxuriantly  during  a  season  of  especial  warmth 
and  moisture,  but  you  "are  not  aware,  I  suppose,  just  how  they  live,  so  I 
will  tell  you.  They  live  mainly  by  means  of  carbonic  acid,  the  gas  ot 
which  I  have  just  spoken,  gathering  it  from  the  air  through  their  leaves, 
which  are  their  lungs.  You  can  see,  then,  that  the  time  of  which  I  have 
been  speaking,  when  the  air  was  filled  with  carbonic  acid,  (the  air  now 
contains  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  it)  would  be  one  especially  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  vegetation.  And  so,  in  truth 
it  was.  The  great  marshes  of  which  I  have  spoken  were  dense  jungles  of 


THE    CARBONIFEROUS    ERA.  17 

plants  and  trees  of  the  kind  then  growing.  The  trees  were  lepidoden- 
drids,  tall,  and  resembling  in  foliage,  our  pines ;  sigillarids^  much  like 
the  first  mentioned  ;  some  species  of  conifers ',  very  soft  pines,  tree-ferns, 
etc.,  etc.,  while  everywhere  there  was  a  dense  growth  of  ferns  of  the  low 
varieties,  and  of  other  vegetation.  Growth  upon  growth  of  such  vegeta- 
tion occurred,  until  in  some  cases  a  great  depth  of  old  and  decaying 
vegetable  material  would  be  formed.  Then  came  a  change,  the  land, 
with  its  profuse  vegetation,  being  sunk  beneath  the  water.  Over  the 
sunken  forests  or  jungles  were  deposited  beds  of  sediment — sand,  gravel, 
etc.,  and  of  the  small  limestone-making  shells,  etc.  Again,  the  land 
would  be  brought  to  the  surface,  and  soon  another  marvelous  growth  of 
vegetation,  as  before,  would  occur — only  to  be  in  turn  sunken  and  covered 
by  beds  of  sediment,  etc.,  until  very  many  such  beds  of  vegetation  had 
been  buried,  some  of  them  of  great  thickness  or  depth;  others,  of  but  little 
depth. 

It  is  these  beds  of  vegetation,  thus  long  ago  buried  in  the  earth  by  GOD, 
in  His  great  wisdom  and  goodness,  that  we  now  know  as  the  coal  beds. 
After  being  buried,  as  we  have  seen,  beneath  beds  of  sediment,  the  great 
weight  above  them,  coupled  with  great  heat,  so  acted  upon  these  vege- 
table masses  as  to  change  them  from  the  delicate  and  beautiful  ferns  and 
other  plants  into  the  solid  black  beds  of  coal— the  beds  of  sediment,  etc., 
deposited  with  them,  becoming,  at  the  same  time,  the  beds  or  strata  of 
sandstone,  limestone,  slate,  etc.,  lying  between  and  above  the  beds  of 
coal.  Thus  our  coal-beds  were  formed,  according  to  what  is  probably  the 
most  generally  accepted  theory. 

Other  theories  differ  from  this  in  some  particulars.  What  is  known  as 
the  drift  theory  is,  that  the  vegetation  which  furnished  the  coal-beds 
instead  of  having  grown  and  been  buried,  as  described,  where  the  beds 
now  are,  was  carried  to  these  places  as  drift  material  by  waves  and  cur- 
rents, from  higher  portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  then  covered  with 
the  beds  of  rock  material.  Other  theories  present  yet  different  views  as 
to  how  the  beds  of  vegetation  were  deposited  and  buried  ;  but  we  will 
not  stop  to  consider  each,  the  one  given  being,  as  I  said,  a  generally 
accepted  one. 

But  however  they  were  deposited,  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  regard  to 
the  generally  accepted  belief  in  the  vegetable  origin  of  coal ;  the  proofs 
of  its  correctness,  as  we  shall  see,  are  too  conclusive  to  admit  of  doubto 
Once  great  masses  of  vegetation, they  have  been  changed  into  beds  of  coal, 
composed  in  great  part  of  the  carbon  as  held  in  the  plants,  combined 
with  oxygen  and  hydrogen — the  gases  which  cause  the  ready  burning  of 
the  coal.  Anthracite  coal  is  almost  pure  carbon — more  than  nine-tenths  car- 
bon indeed.  It  maybe  interesting  to  you  to  learn  too,  that  graphite  (called 
also  plumbago  and  ''black  lead1 — though  not  lead,  at  all)  and  which  is, 
familiar  to  us  all  as  stove-polish,  and  as  used  in  our  lead  pencils,  is  car- 
bon ;  while  the  diamond,  that  most  beautiful  and  valuable  of  gems,  is 
after  all,  nothing  but  a  bit  of  pure  carbon — a  very  near  relation,  you  see, 


18  THE    CARBONIFEROUS    ERA. 

to  the  lump  of  coal  which  we  burn  up,  or  carelessly  throw  away.  You 
can  understand,  then,  the  appropriateness  of  the  name  often  applied  to 
coal — '  black  diamonds  ! '  " 


VI. 

PROOFS     OF     VEGETABLE     ORIGIN  •     THE 
WORLD'S  COAL  FIELDS. 

'*  That  coal  is  of  vegetable  or  plant  origin,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
is  abundant  proof —  the  main  points  of  difference  between  geologists 
being  as  to  how  the  beds  were  deposited  and  buried.  We  will  let  the 
geologists  fight  this  matter  among  themselves,  while  we  talk  about  the 
points  concerning  which  they  are  agreed.  Proofs  of  the  vegetable  origin 
of  coal,  then,  are  found  on  every  hand.  In  the  coal  itself — some  kinds, 
especially — can  be  seen  the  impressions  of  plants.ferns,  etc.,  the  delicate 
and  beautiful  leaves  appearing  as  perfectly  in  this  way  as  photographs, 
almost.  Then,  again,  the  trunks  or  stumps  of  trees,  some  of  great  size, 
are  often  found  in  the  coal-beds.  There  is  always  immediately  under 
the  coal-beds  a  stratum  or  bed  of  clay  —  called  the  ituJcrclay —  which 
is  full  of  the  roots  of  the  old  plants  ;  being,  no  doubt,  the  bed  upon 
which  the  dense  growth  of  vegetation  took  place,  in  the  marshes  spoken 
of.  This  clay,  by  the  way,  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  fire-bricks — and 
is,  therefore,  often  called  fire-clay.  The  slate,  shale,  or  other  such  ma- 
terial which  immediately  overlies  the  coal,  and  which  when  the  coal  is 
taken  out,  forms  the  roof  of  the  mine — Never  mind,  Miss  Inquisitive  ; 
you'll  learn  all  about  mines  and  roofs,  later, — this  slate,  I  say,  is  often 
covered  with  the  prints  of  ferns,  leaves,  etc., — all  these  things  which  I 
have  mentioned  pointing  conclusively  to  the  vegetable  origin  of  our 
coal. 

Some  of  you,  no  doubt,  have  noticed  a  difference  in  the  kinds  of 
coal  you  have  used — Ah,  yes  ;  I  thought  so.  Well,  there  are  two 
principal  kinds  of  coal  —  anthracite  and  bituminous.  Anthracite  is  very 
hard ;  bituminous  coal  is  soft  —  that  is,  as  compared  with  anthracite. 
Between  these  two  general  divisions  of  coal,  however,  there  are  a  great 
many  kinds  or  grades  of  each.  From  the  very  hardest  of  coal,  as  found 
in  some  places,  anthracite  becomes  less  hard,  in  other  places,  until  we 
have  semi- anthracite — semi  meaning  half.  So,  also,  with  bituminous 
coals  —  they  run  through  a  great  many  grades  of  hardness — or  softness — 
and  of  other  qualities.  All  kinds  or  grades  had  the  same  origin,  and 
were,  no  doubt,  once  all  alike,  in  general,  bituminous,  — anthracite  being 
but  a  changed  and  hardened  form  of  bituminous  coal,  resulting  from 
causes  which  we  shall  learn,  later. 

Coal  everywhere  ?    No,  Ned,  it  is  not  found  everywhere,  though 


PROOFS    OF    VEGETABLE    ORIGIN.  19 

probably  once  existing  in  many  sections  where  not  now  found.  At 
the  time  of  the  deposits  of  the  beds  of  vegetation,  the  surface  of  the 
earth  was  much  more  smooth  and  level,  in  general,  than  it  is  now,  and 
the  marsh-jungles  covered  vast  regions.  The  wearing  away  and  carry- 
ing to  other  places,  as  sand  or  soil,  of  the  land — including  rock  and  coal 
strata — by  the  rains  and  streams,  has  left  some  sections  now  barren  of 
coal,  though  once  it  was  present ;  so,  we  often  find  coal  in  the  sides  of 
the  hills,  while  the  low  ground  around  has  none,  it  having  been  carried 
away. 

While  speaking  of  this  matter,  I  may  as  well  tell  you  where  the  coal- 
fields are,  in  what  countries  found,  their  extent,  etc.  First  in  the  list  is 
our  own  country,  containing  the  most  extensive  and  valuable  coal-beds 
in  the  world — covering  an  area  of  perhaps  150,000  square  miles.*  This 
extent  of  coal-land  is  not  all  in  one  great  tract,  but  is  divided  up  into  a 
number  of  coal-fields  or  coal-regions  as  they  are  called.  The  greatest 
of  these,  as  well  as  the  greatest  in  the  world,  is  the  Appalachian  field. 
It  embraces  the  Pennsylvania  region — which  we  propose  to  visit — covering 
a  large  part  of  the  State,  in  anthracite  and  bituminous  fields,  and  from 
thence,  following  the  Appalachian  system  of  mountains,  (the  Alleghenies, 
Blue  Ridge,  etc.,)  it  extends  southwest  over  parts  of  Ohio,  Maryland, 
West  Virginia,  Virginia,  Eastern  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  across 
the  northwest  corner  of  Georgia,  to  the  middle  of  Alabama,  having  an 
area  of  at  least  60,000  square  miles.  The  Central  coal-field  embraces  a 
large  part  of  Illinois,  Southwestern  Indiana  and  Western  Kentucky, 
having  an  area  of  47,000  square  miles.  The  Western  field  embraces 
parts  of  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Missouri,  Eastern  Kansas,  Arkansas,  and  ex- 
tending into  Texas,  with  an  area  of  78,000  square  miles.  Then  there  is 
the  Michigan  field — covering  an  area  of  6,700  square  miles,  in  the  central 
part  of  the  State.  There  is  a  small  field  in  Rhode  Island,  extending 
slightly  into  Massachusetts,  with  an  area  of  but  500  square  miles.  These 
are  the  principal  coal-fields  of  our  country,  so  far  developed;  but  immense 
deposits  of  coal  are  being  found  throughout  the  far  Western  States  and 
Territories,  though  of  not  so  good  quality  as  that  of  the  eastern  fields. 

In  the  British  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  ad- 
joining the  United  States  on  the  northeast,  there  are  valuable  coal-fields, 
covering  an  area  of  10,000  square  miles.  Central  and  South  America, 
also,  have  coal  fields,  though  small  ones. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  too,  they  have  coal.  England  has 
long  been  noted  for  its  production  of  coal — that  is,  the  quantity  mined, 
in  this  respect  outranking  even  our  own  country,  although  we  have  more 
coal,  having  the  greatest  and  best  beds.  Wales,  also,  is  a  great  coal- 
mining country;  while  Scotland  and  Ireland  also  have  their  fields.  The 
whole  extent  of  the  field  of  Great  Britain — England,  Wales,  Scotland  and 
Ireland — is  but  12,000  square  miles.  Coal  is  also  found  in  Spain,  Portu- 

*  This  does  not  include  the  later  formations,  or  Tertiary  coals,  of  the  far  Western 
States  and  Territories,  and  which  are  of  very  great  extent.  The  total  of  all  kinds  tor 
the  United  States  is  about  625,000  square  miles. 


20  PROOFS    OF    VEGETABLE    ORIGIN. 

gal,  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Russia  and  perhaps,  to  a  lesser  extent, 
other  countries  in  Europe.  Far  off  Australia,  India  and  China,  too,  have 
coal-fields.  So,  you  see,  we  do  not  have  all  the  coal  over  here. 

The  greater  part  of  all  the  coal  of  the  world  is  bituminous,  the  soft 
coal.  The  fields  of  anthracite  are  few  and  small  as  compared  with 
bituminous  fields.  The  total  area  of  all  the  anthracite  fields  of  the 
world  is  said  to  be  but  about  2,000  square  miles,  and  of  this  area  nearly 
one-half  is  in  the  United  States,  Central  Pennsylyania  containing  the 
greatest  anthracite  region  of  the  world.  The  small  coal-field  of  Rhode 
Island  is  also  anthracite.  Abroad,  anthracite  is  found  in  Wales,  Ireland 
and  France. 

i  Besides  anthracite  and  bituminous  coals — the  true  coals— there  are 
beds  of  other  kinds  of  coals,  or  substances  used  as  coals.  Broiun  coal 
is  a  brownish-black  coal  of  the  bituminous  variety,  formed  at  a  much 
later  period  than  the  true  coals.  Lignite  is  another  of  these  coals,  and 
is  largely  found  and  used  throughout  the  -Rocky  Mountain  region,  and 
elsewhere.  It  is  also  of  more  recent  origin  and  formation.  It  is  what  is 
known  as  carbonized  wood,  and  retains  the  form  of  the  original  wood. 
Jet  is  a  more  compact  form  of  lignite.  Alhcrtite  is  a  pitch-like  substance 
found  in  Albert  mine,  New  Brunswick  ;  Grahamitc  is  a  similar  sub- 
stance found  in  West  Virginia.  Peat  is  partially  carbonized  vegetable 
material —  imperfect  coal  —  formed  in  boggy  or  marshy  places,  and  is  of 
quite  recent  formation — is  forming  now,  indeed,  in  some  places.  Peat 
is  largely  used  as  fuel,  where  it  is  found,  the  peat-bogs  of  some  countries 
being  noted  for  their  extent  and  value." 


VII. 

PENNSYLVANIA'S  COAL-FIELDS—ANTHRACITE 
AND  BITUMINOUS  REGIONS. 

"And  now,  a  few  general  statements  in  regard  to  the  Pennsylvania 
coal  fields,  which  we  are  to  visit. 

As  already  stated,  the  Appalachian  coal  field  is  the  greatest  in  the 
world — notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  area  given  for  the  Western  field 
is  considerably  greater  than  for  the  Appalachian,  as  you  must  have  noticed. 
But  it  is  not  alone  the  extent  of  a  coal  field,  but  also  the  number  and  thick- 
ness of  its  beds,  and  the  quality  of  the  coal  they  contain,  which  form 
the  basis  for  estimating  its  real  value ;  and  it  is  the  possession  of  the 
greatest  beds  of  the  finest  coal  which  places  the  Appalachian  first  in  the 
list  of  the  coal-fields  of  the  world.  It  is  the  great  beds  of  the  upper  or 
northern  part  of  the  great  Appalachian  field  which  are  especially  noted  ; 
and  it  is  these  beds — of  both  anthracite  and  bituminous  coals — which 


PENNSYLVANIA    COAL    FIELDS.  21 

make  Pennsylvania  the  great  coal-producing  State  of  the  Union.  Let  us 
look  first  at  the  bituminous  region,  as  naturally  coming  before  the  other 
— anthracite,  as  has  already  been  stated,  being  a  changed  form  of  bitum- 
inous coal;  both  having  once  belonged  to  the  same  widespread  beds, 
though  now  separated  by  the  Allegheny  mountains. 

One  of  the  first  points  to  be  noticed — one  which  those  of  last  year's 
party  will  recollect — is,  that  the  rock  strata  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  in 
which  part  of  the  State  the  bituminous  coal-beds  are  located,  lie  flat  and 
evenly,  one  upon  the  other,  just  as  they  were  originally  deposited.  This 
condition  of  things  is  found  in  all  bituminous  coal  fields — as  indeed  over 
a  great  part  of  the  globe — and  is  of  much  importance  to  coal-workers, 
as  adding  to  the  ease  with  which  the  coal  can  be  mined  and  taken  to  the 
surface.  A  bituminous  coal-bed  may  cover  hundreds  of  miles  in  one 
unbroken  extent. 

The  bituminous  coal  region  covers  a  large  portion  of  the  western 
part  of  the  State,  though  the  southwestern  section  contains  the  most  val- 
uable beds.  The  reason  for  this  difference  in  the  matter  of  the  coal 
deposits  may  be  readily  explained.  Those  of  you  who  were  among  the 
oil  wells  of  this  same  region,  last  winter,  will  also  remember  what  you 
saw  and  were  told  about  the  dip  of  the  rock  strata,  the  coal-beds  in- 
cluded— how  all  the  strata  dip  or  sink  toward  the  southwest.  Suppose, 
Ned,  you  see  if  you  can  make  a  picture — a  diagram — showing  this  dip  of 
the  rocks.  That's  it ;  well  done,  my  boy  !  I  see  you  have  n't  forgotten 
some  things  learned  a  year  ago,  at  all  events.  Here  he  has  shown  us 
this  dip,  very  nicely,  so  that  we  can  all  readily  understand  the  matter. 
We  see  the  strata  getting  farther  below  the  surface  toward  the  southwest, 


HOW  THE  STRATA        DIP. 

and  coming  to  the  surface  and  'running  out, '  toward  the  northeast.  Many 
of  the  coal-beds  which  are  found  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  State  have 
thus  'run  out'  toward  the  north,  and  are  not  found  far  beyond  Pittsburgh. 


22  ANTHRACITE  AND  BITUMINOUS  COAL. 

There  are,  altogether,  quite  a  number  of  coal-beds — some  thick,  others 
too  thin  to  be  mined — lying  at  various  depths.  These  beds  seem  to  be 
in  two  groups,  called  the  upper  and  lower  coal-measures^  separated  by  a 
great  thickness  of  other  strata  containing  no  coal — and  therefore  called 
the  barren  measures.  The  beds  of  each  group  are  also  separated  by 
various,  and  often  considerable,  thicknesses  of  other  strata — limestone, 
sandstone,  slate,  shales,  etc.  It  is  the  beds  of  the  lower  group  or  series — 
called  the  Allegheny  series — which  are  found  and  mined  north  of  Pitts- 
burgh, the  beds  of  the  upper  series  having  '  run  out.'  From  Pittsburgh 
southward,  the  beds  of  the  upper,  or  Monongahela  series — beginning  with 
what  is  known  as  the  Pittsburgh  bed,  as  the  lowest — are  being  mined  now; 
the  beds  of  the  lower  series  being,  on  account  of  the  dip,  far  below  the 
surface  and,  therefore,  not  likely  to  be  disturbed  until  the  higher  beds 
have  been  exhausted. 

Just  here  it  will  be  well  to  state  that  the  beds  of  rock  and  coal  are 
not  everywhere  of  the  same  thickness,  but  may  vary,  somewhat,  in  this 
particular  at  points  but  slightly  separated.  These  slight  variations  are 
probably  due  to  the  washing  about  of  the  deposits  of  sediment,  etc.,  and 
also — especially  in  the  case  of  the  coal-beds — to  a  difference  in  the  depth 
of  the  deposits,  long  ago  made.  But  while  these  differences  may  be  but 
slight  in  any  particular  locality,  there  may  be  very  great  differences 
between  widely  separated  parts  of  the  great  fields,  and  especially 
between  the  fields  themselves.  For  instance,  the  thickness  of  all  the 
rocks  of  the  carboniferous  age  is  14,570  feet  at  the  Joggins  in  Nova 
Scotia,  while  in  Pennsylvania  the  total  thickness  is  but  9,oooTeet.  Again, 
that  portion  of  the  strata  of  this  age  which  constitute  the  coal-measures 
proper,  is  over  8,000  feet  thick  in  Nova  Scotia  ;  4,000  feet  at  the  greatest, 
in  Pennsylvania;  and  from  i,ooodown  to  100  in  the  Mississippi  valley 
fields — showing  a  much  greater  depth  of  deposits  in  the  East  than  in  the 
West. 

The  great  bed  known  as  the  Pittsburgh  bed,  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  coal-beds  in  the  world— being  of  great  thickness,  of  the  best 
quality  and  of  great  extent.  Beginning  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pitts- 
burgh, where  the  dip  has  caused  it  to  *  run  out '  it  covers  all  the  south- 
western part  of  the  State,  and  extends  as  far  east  as  Cumberland, 
Maryland— where  in  the  '  Cumberland  basin, '  it  is  12  to  1 6  feet  thick — 
and  southward  and  westward  into  West  Virginia,  Ohio  and  Kentucky, 
varying  in  thickness  in  different  localities.  It  appears  near  the  top 
of  the  great  river  hills,  opposite  Pittsburgh,  and  can  be  seen  as  a  black 
belt  along  the  rocky  hill-sides  for  many  miles  up  the  Monongahela  river. 
Above  the  Pittsburgh  bed,  in  the  highlands  of  the  extreme  southwestern 
corner  of  the  State,  there  are  other,  but  less  important  beds,  which  are 
mined  at  many  places.  , 

I  think  I  mentioned  a  while  ago  that  there  were  a  number  of  kinds  or 
grades  of  coal,  of  each  of  the  two  general  classes,  anthracite  and  bitum- 
inous ;  just  here  it  may  be  well  to  speak  of  this  matter  more  fully.  While 


ANALYSIS    OF    COAL.  23 

all  bitumfnous  coals,  as  you  have  learned,  are  softer  than  anthracite,  they 
are  not  all  of  equal  hardness— or  softness — by  any  means  ;  there  is  a  wide 
range  in  this  particular  between  the  coals  of  different  sections  of  the  same 
field.  The  coal  of  the  Monongahela  valley,  for  instance,  is  quite  hard,  as 
compared  with  coal  of  the  same  bed  mined  in  other  sections.  The  coal  of 
the  wonderful  coke-region  is — No,  no,  no,  Miss  Question-box,  I  can't  do 
it  now;  but  you'll  learn  all  about  coke,  and  the  coke-region,  before 
you're  much  older,  as  we  shall  visit  the  cokeries  in  the  course  of  our 
travels.  As  I  was  about  to  say,  the  coal  of  the  coke-region  is  much  softer 
than  that  just  mentioned;  and  so,  throughout  the  whole  region,  there 
are  differences  in  this  particular. 

Special  names  are  given  to  certain  kinds  of  bituminous  coal.  Cannel 
coal  is  what  I  may  call  a  very  fine-grained  variety,  of  a  dead  black  color, 
that  is,  having  but  very  little,  if  any,  luster;  and  I  may  add,  just  here,  that 
all  coal  is  more  or  less  lustrous,  or  'shiny,'— they  are  diamonds,  you 
know.  Cannel  coal  can  be  cut  with  a  knife  very  readily,  and  if  we  find 
any  in  our  travels,you  boys  may  try  your  jack-knives  on  it,  carving  figures 
or  making  rings,  as  I  used  to  do— Oh,  no,  Bess;  I  haven't  any  of  them 
now,  I'm  sorry  to  tell  you.  Candle  coal  was  the  name  really  given  this 
variety,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  it  burned  with  a  candle-like  flame,  but 
the  Welsh  miners  pronouncing  candle  without  the  d,  thus,  can'el,  it  came 
in  time  to  be  called  cannel  coal.  Torbanite  is  a  variety  of  cannel  coal, 
from  Torbane  Hill  mines,  in  Scotland.  Block  coal,  found  largely  in  In- 
diana and  neighboring  States,  and  in  smaller  quantities  elsewhere,  is  of  a 
nature  indicated  by  its  name.  It  is  especially  valuable  to  iron-workers, 
as  it  does  not  cake— that  is,  melt  and  soften— in  burning,  and  afterward 
harden  or  cake  over,  and  therefore  will  sustain  the  great  weight  of  iron, 
etc.,  resting  upon  it,  in  furnaces.  Such  coals  are  known  as  non-caking 
coals;  while  coals  that  so  cake  are  known  as  caking  or  coking-  coals. 

By  analysis  (that  is,  such  a  method  of  examination  as  will  tell  us  of 
what  a  substance  is  composed — how  many  separate  substances  it  con- 
tains, and  the  quantity  of  each  of  these) — by  analysis,  the  composition  of 
the  various  grades  of  coal  has*  been  learned.  Let  us  see  what  this  shows, 
taking  the  average  composition  of  a  number  of  specimens  of  each  kind, 
*  and  giving  the  quantity  of  each  separate  substance  of  which  coal  is  com- 
posed —that  is,  how  many  parts  of  each  separate  substance  there  are  in, 
say,  every  100  parts  of  coal.  Single  specimens,  from  various  sections, 
may  differ  considerably  in  their  composition  ;  but  we  will  take  the  aver- 
age of  a  large  number  of  specimens.  We  have,  then,  the  following : 
carbon,  65^  parts  ;  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  28^  parts  ;  ash,  6^  parts, 
as  the  average  composition  of  the  bituminous  coals  of  the  region  which 
we  are  to  visit ;  other  fields  will  differ  from  this.  Ordinarily,  bituminous 
coal  contains  from  25  to  35  parts  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  gases — the  vol- 
atile combustible  substances,  as  they  are  termed.  Some  coals  contain  as 
much  as  50  or  60  parts  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  The  larger  the  quan- 
tity of  these  gases,  the  more  combustible,  or  free-burning,  is  the  coal. 


24  PENNSYLVANIA    COAL    FIELDS. 

The  name  bituminous  is  given  to  this  kind  of  coal  because  it  burns— 
by  reason  of  the  tar,  oil  and  gas  which  it  gives  off  when  heated — like  bitu- 
men— an  entirely  different  substance,  not  contained  in  the  coal  at  all. 

Semi-bituminous  coal  is,  as  its  name  indicates,  a  half-bituminous 
variety  or  grade — that  is,  much  less  like  the  true  bituminous  coal  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,and  approaching  more  nearly  the  anthracite 
varieties.  The  average  composition  of  the  semi-bituminous  coal  of  Penn- 
sylvania is: — carbon,  72^  parts;  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  i6T8/ir  parts;  ash 
I0i%%  parts.  The  semi-bituminous  region  is  situated  in  the  mountainous 
part  of  Pennsylvania,  between  the  bituminous  and  anthracite  regions, 
large  quantities  of  the  coal  being  mined. 

The  ash  of  coals,  the  part  left  after  the  coal  is  burnt — and  with  which 
some  of  you,  who  help  mamma,  may  think  you  are  entirely  too  familiar — 
is  made  up  of  the  impurities  contained  in  the  coal,  and  which  are  not  con- 
sumed. These  impurities  are,  in  part,  elements  contained  in  the  coal 
plants  themselves — silica  (mainly),  alumina,  lime,  magnesia,  potash,  soda, 
sulphur,  oxide  of  iron,  etc.,  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  some  of  these 
being  present.  Besides,  the  waters  washed  into  the  beds  of  vegetation 
earthy  matter.  Sulphur  is  the  enemy  of  metal — as  you  may  discover 
by  carrying  a  bit  of  it  in  your  pocket,  among  your  coins — and  its  presence 
in  some  coals  is  in  quantity  sufficient  to  unlit  them  for  use  in  the 
working  of  metals. 

The  anthracite  region  lies  east  of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  in  what 
may  be  called  the  central  part  of  the  State.  As  I  have  already  told  you, 
the  area  of  anthracite  beds  is  very  small  as  compared  with  the  bitumin- 
ous beds.  The  Pennsylvania  region  is  by  far  the  largest  and  most  valuable 
of  the  anthracite  fields  of  the  world.  There  are  thirty  beds  in  the  anthra- 
cite region  of  Pennsylvania,  though  not  all  present  in  any  one  field. 

In  this  region  the  condition  of  the  rock  strata  is  wonderfully  different 
from  that  noticed  in  the  bituminous  region*  There,  all  is  order  ;  here,  all 
is  confusion.  There,  the  strata  are  unbroken,  and  lie  smoothly  one 
upon  the  other;  here,  they  are  broken,  crushed,  tilted  and  jammed  to- 
gether, standing  upon  edge,  turned  over  on  their  faces,  and  doubled  up  in 
every  imaginable  way.  While  the  region  beyond  the  mountains  has  re- 
mained undisturbed,  great  earthquakes  or  other  forces  have  at  some  time, 
hough  long  ago,  produced  the  confusion  we  here  find.  In  some  sections, 
the  strata  have  been  lifted  to  great  heights  ;  in  others,  they  have  been 
sunken,  so  as  to  form  great  basins,  as  they  are  called.  The  coal-beds,  of 
course,  shared  in  this  disturbance,  and  instead  of  being  found,  as  in  the 
bituminous  regions,  spreading  out  unbrokenly  over  great  areas,  they  are 
found  in  long,  narrow,  widely  separated  basins,  and  at  varying  and  some- 
times great  distances  from  the  surface.  There  are  three  great  basins  or 
fields;  the  Northern,  the  Middle,  and  the  Southern,  the  middle  field  be- 
ing again  divided  into  Eastern  Middle  and  Western  Middle. 

The  very  disturbances  which  produced  this  confusion,  were  largely 
if  not  wholly  the  means  of  producing  the  hard  anthracite  variety  of  coal— 


PENNSYLVANIA    COAL    FIELDS.  25 

changing  ft  from  the  bituminous.  The  coal-beds-  being  broken  up  and 
turned  upon  edge,  in  many  places,  permitted  the  escape  from  them  of 
the  gases  so  largely  present  in  bituminous  coal,  this  escape  being 
further  helped  by  the  heat  and  squeezing  resulting  from  the  enormous 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  beds  during  the  period  of  disturb- 
ance and  afterwards.  The  force  of  the  squeezing  to  which  they  were 


ROCK  STRATA,  IN  ANTHRACITE  REGION. 

subjected,  and  which  has  left  the  coal  so  hard  and  compact,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  at  some  places  the  coal  disappears  entirely,  the  other  strata 
closing  together,  while  in  other  places  the  coal-beds  swell  or  bulge  to 
two  or  three  times  their  usual  thickness  !  The  heat  and  pressure  drove 
out  of  the  once  bituminous  coal  a  large  part  of  its  oxygen  and  hydrogen, 
leaving  it  nearly  pure  carbon — our  anthracite  coal. 

Let  us,  just  here,  compare  anthracite  with  the  bituminous  coal,  and 
learn  the  extent  of  the  change,  as  shown  by  the  difference  in  the  quantity 
of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  contained  in  each.  We  have  already  seen  that 
bituminous  coal  usually  contains  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  taken  together, 
from  25  to  35  parts  in  every  100,  and,  sometimes,  as  high  as  50  to  60  parts 
in  TOO  ;  in  anthracite  these  elements  have  been  driven  out  until  there  is 
left  but  from  2  to  5  parts  in  100,  in  the  purest  kinds,  and  but  from  10  to  12 
at  the  most,  in  the  less  pure  varieties.  Quite'a  difference,  you  see.  It  is 
this  difference  in  the  quantity  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  contained  in  the 
coal  which  makes  the  marked  difference  always  noticed  in  the  burning 
the  two  kinds  of  coal — the  bituminous  kindling  quickly  and  burning  very 
freely  and  rapidly,  and  with  a  mass  of  bright  yellow  flame,  so  cheerful 
looking  on  a  cold  day;  and  anthracite  both  kindling  and  burning  slowly, 
with  but  a  very  feeble,  bluish  flame.  A  quantity  of  bituminous  coal,  burn- 
ng  so  freely  and  rapidly,  is  consumed  or  burned  up  far  more  quickly 
than  the  slow-burning  anthracite. 

As  in  the  case  of  bituminous  coals,  so  with  anthracite — there  are 
different  qualities  or  grades  of  hardness,  etc.  In  the  more  eastern  parts 
of  the  region  the  coal  is  very  hard  and  flint-like,  indeed;  this  is  the  purest 
anthracite.  But  in  the  western  part  of  the  field  it  becomes  less  hard  and 


26       .  PENNSYLVANIA    COAL    FIELDS. 

more  free-burning — containing  more  oxygen  and  hydrogen  ;  this  is  called 
semi-anthracite. 

The  average  composition  of  several  specimens  of  anthracite  and  semi- 
anthracite,  showing  the  number  of  parts  in  100  of  each  substance,  as  de- 
termined by  a  number  of  analyses,  is  as  follows  : 

Anthracite,         carbon 89  TW  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  3  TVff5  ash,  6  T%V 

Semi-anthracite       "      82  iW;       -  "9  i9<fa'>     u     7  TW 

A  single  pure  specimen  may  often  contain  several  more  parts  of  carbon  ; 
while  the  semi-anthracite  varieties  often  run  the  other  way,  approaching 
the  composition  of  the  semi-bituminous  so  closely  that  it  is  often  hard 
to  distinguish  between  them.  The  hardest  anthracites  contain  from  91 
to  98  parts  of  carbon. 

The  nature  of  the  anthracite  region— the  strata  so  displaced  and 
broken — makes  mining  operations  very  different,  in  many  cases,  from 
those  of  the  bituminous  region.  But  we'll  go  to  the  mines,  that  you  may 
see  these  operations  for  yourselves;  I've  told  you,  now,  all  the  main 
facts  about  coal  up  to  the  point  of  the  actual  mining  or  digging  of  it,  and 
as  soon  as  you  can  get  ready — say,  day  after  to-morrow — we'll  be  off  to 
the  mines— visiting  first,  I  think,  for  a  special  reason,  the  anthracite  re- 
gion. Good  bye,  then,  until  we  meet  to  start. 

Oh,  yes  !  hold  there,  a  minute.  Here  !  come  back,  everyone  of  you; 
I  almost  forgot  to  tell  you  to  especially  prepare  yourselves  for  certain 
features  of  our  excursion.  Provide  yourselves  with  an  extra  pair,  each, 
of  good  stout  shoes  with  heavy  soles,  or  with  rubber  boots,  which  would 
be  better  ;  a  coal  mine  is  a  bad  place  for  fine  leather,  you'll  find.  And 
bring  your  waterproof  coats  and  cloaks,  too.  That's  all ;  good  bye." 


VIII. 

IN  THE  ANTHRACITE  REGION. 

"  Well,  here  we  are  in  the  anthracite  region  and  ready  for  sight-see- 
ing. As  we  cannot  afford  to  lose  any  time,  we'll — Oh,  Miss  Inquisitive  ! 
Just  hear  her! — what's  that  big,  queer  looking  house  over  there?  and 
what's  that  odd-looking,  big,  black  hill  over  yonder?  Two  questions  at 
once  !  Really,  young  lady,  I'm  afraid  I  shall  have  to  give  up  if  you  are 
going  to  continue  at  that  rate.  However,  I  can  answer  you  this  time. 
The  one  is  a  coal  breaker,  and --hold,  hold  !  no  more  questions  about  it 
now— and  the  other  is  a  culm  or  rock  dump.  We'll  learn  all  about 
both  after  a  while  ;  but  just  now  we  will  give  our  attention  to  other  matters, 
for,  as  I  was  about  to  say  a  moment  ago,  we  have  no  time  to  waste,  and 
should  make  our  rounds  so  as  to  see  and  learn  the  most  possible  in  the 
least  time. 

We  might  begin,  as  I  think  our  question-asker,  here,  would  like  to 
have  us,  with  what  we  see  first,  on  the  surface— the  breakers,  etc.,  but 


IN    THE    ANTHRACITE     REGION.  27 

these  things,  as  you  will  find,  really  come,  in  order,  last  instead  of  first. 
The  breakers  are  for  the  preparation  of  coal  for  market,  but  of  course  it 
can't  be  so  prepared  until  it  is  taken  from  the  beds  ;  and  so  all  the  opera- 
tions of  opening  a  mine  and  digging  the  coal  must  go  before  the  use  of  the 
breaker.  We'll  follow  the  natural  order  of  operations  and  thus  reach  the 
breakers  and  culm  dumps  by  and  by. 

It  being  so  late,  now,  we  will  not  go  into  any  of  the  mines  to-day,  but 
making  an  early  start  in  the  morning,  we  will  put  in  perhaps,  the  whole 
day  under  ground.  What !  afraid  ?  Oh,  but  it  will  never  do  to  come  so 
far  to  see  the  coal  mines  and  then  have  to  say,  when  you  get  home  again, 
that  you  only  saw  them  on  the  outside.  It  is  true  that  a  coal  mine  is  a 
place  full  of  danger  of  many  kinds ;  and  I  never  should  so  much  as  think 
of  taking  you  into  one.  trusting  only  to  my  own  knowledge  of  such  a 
place,  to  take  you  through  it  a-nd  bring  you  out  again  in  safety.  But  we 
will  put  ourselves  under  the  care  of  the  'mine  boss,'  or  some  other  per- 
son who  may  be  given  charge  of  us,  and  I  trust  we  shall  have  both  an  en- 
joyable and  profitable  underground  experience.  We  will  spend,  now,  a 
few  hours  in  visiting  some  of  the  works,  or  collieries,  as  they  are  called, 
and  arrange  for  our  tour  of  to-morrow — at  the  same  time  picking  up,  no 
doubt,  some  valuable  bits  of  information  by  the  way. 

Suppose  we  go  first  to  that  one  over  there — the  one  whose  breaker 
caught  Miss  Inquisitive's  eye  so  quickly.  It  seems,  viewed  from  here,  to 
be  a  shaft  or  slope  col— At  it  again,  I  declare  !  However,  y.our  question 
is  a  fair  one,  and  one  that  must  be  answered,  not  alone  for  your  benefit, 
but  for  that  also  of  the  whole  party.  I  will  not  answer  it  now,  however, 
further  than  to  say  that  the  openings  made  in  the  earth  to  enable  the 
miners  to  get  at  the  coal  have  different  names  according  to  the  how  they 
are  made  ;  '  shaft'  and  '  slope,'  the  words  just  used,  being  the  names  of 
two  kinds  of  such  openings.  A  full  explanation  would  bring  up  other 
points  connected  with  the  same  matter,  so  I  will  not  undertake  it  now  ; 
but  we  will  devote  the  evening  to  a  talk  about  these  things. 

Well,  here  we  are  at  the  colliery.  Ah  !  look  yonder  ;  see  that  group 
of  grimy,  black-faced  men,  just  coming  from  the  doorway.  They  are  the 
miners,  or  colliers,  who  dig  the  coal  from  the  beds,  hundreds  of  them 
often  working  in  the  same  mine.  These  have  just  been  brought  up  from 
the  workings,  below,  having  finished  their  turn,  and  are  now  going  home. 
They  are  drawn  up,  where  the  opening  into  the  mines  is  steep,  as  here 
— this  being  a  shaft— in  what  is  called  a  'cage,'  a  certain  number  only  being 
brought  up  at  a  time.  I  believe  ten  is  the  greatest  number  the  law  allows 
to  be  brought  up  at  one  time.  Look  !  there  is  another  group  now.  Ha, 
ha,  young  lady,  that's  good  !  How  these  men  would  laugh  if  I  should  tell 
them  your  question.  Those  little  things  on  the  front  of  the  miners'  hats 
and  caps,  and  which  '  look  so  much  like  litttle  coffee-pots,' — ha,  ha  ! — are 
lamps.  Each  miner  carries  his  lamp,  securely  fastened  to  his  hat,  the 
light  from  which  is  all  he  has  to  enable  him  to  see  to  work.  They  have 
just  blown  them  out  upon  reaching  the  surface  ;  but  had  you  been  at  the 


28  IN  THE  ANTHRACITE  REGION. 

bottom  of  the  shaft  and  have  seen  these  men  coming  through  the  long 
passageways  of  the  mine,  I  just  know  you'd  have  had  a  question  or  two 
about  a  torchlight  procession. 

This  building  here,  part  of  which  is  placed  over  the  opening  into  the 
mines — the  shaft — is  where  the  machinery  is  placed  which  is  used  to  raise 
and  lower,  by  means  of  strong  steel  wire  ropes  or  cables,  the  cages  carry- 
ing the  men,  as  also  the  mine  cars  which  are  brought  up  full  of  coal,  and 
are  sent  down  again  empty,  after  another  load.  Let  us  take  a  peep  in- 
side. Here  is  the  powerful  steam  engine  and  over  there  is  the  winding 
machinery — those  big  iron  cylinders,  or  drums,  as  they  are  called,  around 
which  you  see  the  wire  cable  wrapped  or  coiled.  Tap  !  tap  !  tap  !  goes 
the  gong-bell ;  that's— were  you  scared,  Bess  ? — that's  to  signal  the  engin- 
eer— that  is,  to  tell  him  what  to  do,  a  man  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  hav- 
ing tapped  the  bell  by  pulling  a  wire  which  runs  all  the  way  down.  Now 
see !  the  engineer  has  started  the  machinery.  Do  you  notice  that  the 
cattle  is  winding  itself  around  one  drum  while  it  is  unwinding  and  spin- 
ning off  the  other  ?  I  hadn't  told  you  yet  that  the  opening  or  shaft  has 
places  for  the  passage  up  and  down  of  two  cages  or  mine-cars  at  once  ; 
this  is  the  case,  and  while  the  cable  winding  around  this  drum  is  bringing 
up  a  full  cage,  the  unwinding  of  that  on  the  other  drum  is  letting  an 
empty  one  down.  Ah  !  there  it  comes— but  not  a  rage-  with  men  this 
time,  but  a  car  loaded  with  great,  rough  lumps  of  coal.  Away  it  goes,  now, 
off  to  the  big  breaker  building— but  we  will  not  follow  it.  Here  is  an 
empty  car  to  take  its  place,  you  see.  The  engineer  is  reversing  the  machin- 
ery, so  that  the  winding  and  unwinding  will  change  about  on  the  drums 
this  time.  Tap  !  tap  !  tap  !  goes  the  bell  again — the  man  at  the  bottom 
tells  the  man  at  the  top  that  he  is  ready.  Around  go  the  big  drums 
again— this  one  unwinding  with  the  empty  car  ;  the  other,  winding  and 
drawing  up  the  full  one,  this  time.  And  so  it  goes  on  all  the  time.  Let  us 
go,  now,  to  yonder  colliery,  and  then  around  to  our  home— or  what  we 
shall  call  our  home,  for  the  present.  \Ve  must  hurry,  too,  as  it  will  take 
us  half  an  hour  to  reach  the  colliery ;  and  this,  with  the  time  we  may 
spend  there,  will  occupy  what  time  we  yet  have  before  starting  home. 

Quite  a  tramp  that,  wasn't  it?  It  was  a  longer  one  than  I  thought  it 
would  be,  and  has  taken  us  much  more  than  half  an  hour  to  make  it,  I 
find.  We  will,  then,  have  but  little  time  to  spend  here.  This,  I  notice, 
seems  to  be  even  a  more  busy  place  than  the  one  we  have  just  left.  By 
the  way,  we  have  not  made  our  arrangements  for  to-morrow's  trip  ;  this 
should  be  done  this  evening  yet,  if  possible,  so  that  we  shall  lose  no  time 
in  the  morning  with  such  matters.  Wait  here  a  few  minutes,  watching 
the  miners  coming  and  going,  while  I  call  upon  the  superintendent  and 
learn  whether  we  may  be  allowed  to  visit  the  mines  here,  to-morrow,  or 
must  try  some  other  colliery. 

Good  news  for  you,  youngsters  !  We  are  to  be  kindly  permitted  to 
go  down  into  the  workings  to-morrow,  and  will  have  in  charge  of  us  a 
man  familiar  with  every  part  of  the  mine,  and  who  will  be  instructed  to  let 
us  take  our  own  time  at  sight  seeing.  Now  for  home." 


DRIFTS  AND  TUNNELS.  29 

IX. 

DRIFTS  AND  TUNNELS. 


"Let's  see  !  there's  some  work  laid  out  for  us  for  this  evening,  isn't 
there?  Well,  gather  round  the  fire  here,  and  we  will  get  at  it.  Oh  !  by 
the  •  way,  some  of  you  never  have  seen  an  anthracite  fire,  I  believe. 
Come  close,  then,  and  see  how  anthracite  burns,  as  shown  by  the  fire  in 
this  big  stove.  There  is  very  little  flame  you  see,  and  that  flickering  and 
blueish  in  color.  This  notice,  also,  is  where  the  coal  is  just  kindling,  or 
has  been  burning  but  a  little  while  ;  out  here,  however,  where  the  coal 
has  been  burning  for  some  time,  it  no  longer  gives  off  any  flame.  No 
smoke  is  made  either,  you  notice,  a  great  point  of  difference  between 
anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  fires.  The  coals  lie  there  bright  and  red, 
it  is  true,  but  dead-like,  it  seems,  to  one  acustomed  to  deal  with  the 
free-burning,  roaring,  bituminous  coal  fires,  especially  as  seen  in  the 
open  fire-places  or  grates.  Anthracite,  I  may  state,  is  not  suited  for 
open  grates,  as  is  bituminous  coal,  though  sometimes  so  burned ;  and 
so,  wherever  it  is  used,  stoves  for  heating  as  well  as  stoves  for  cooking, 
are  in  general  use.  While  users  of  bituminous  coal  love  their  roaring, 
cheerful  open  fires,  those  who  use  the  anthracite  enjoy  some  advantages 
which  the  others,  with  their  roaring  fires,  do  not.  The  anthracite  fires 
do  not  require  so  much  attention  as  do  those  of  the  other  kind,  in  the 
way  of  replenishing,  a  small  quantity  of  anthracite  continuing  to  give 
out  heat  long  after  an  equal  quantity  of  the  other  kind  would  have 
burned  up  and  died  out.  Indeed,  many  anthracite  heating  stoves  are 
made  as  is  this  one,  I  see,  to  be  self-feeding,  and  enough  coal  is  put  in 
at  one  time  to  last  all  day.  The  coal  is  put  in  at  the  top,  filling  that 
cylinder  you  see  running  down  inside,  and  as  the  coal  burns  be- 
low, fresh  supplies  from  the  cylinder  reach  the  fire.  These  fancy  col- 
ored lights  set  in  the  stove  are  thin  plates  of  mica,  which  are  not  af- 
fected by  the  heat.  Besides  enabling  one  to  see  the  fire  through  them, 
thus  saving  the  opening  of  doors,  they  add  to  the  appearance  of  the 
stoves,  and  also  give  the  room  a  more  cheerful  appearance  than  do  those 
made  without  them.  In  the  matter  of  cheerfulness,  however,  the  bitum- 
inous people,  as  we  might  call  them,  certainly  have  the  advantage.  But 
to  partially  offset  this,  again,  the  anthracite  people  are  free  from  the 
clouds  of  black  smoke  and  soot,  which  fill  the  air  where  bituminous  coal 
is  burned. 

But  now  to  our  work — the  promised  explanations.    Miss  Inquisitive 
wants  to — and,  of  course,   you  all  want    to — know  something  about 


30  DRIFTS  AND  TUNNELS. 

shafts  and  slopes.  Well,  I  will  try  to  explain  in  regard  to  these  things, 
then,  but  beginning,  however,  with  some  other  points  which  should  first 
be  considered. 

First,  then,  I  would  say  that  the  coal  operators — the  individuals  or 
companies  owning  the  collieries,  secure  the  coal  territory  in  much  the 
same  way  that  the  oil  operators  secure  their  territory,  as  explained  last 
year  to  some  of  you — that  is,  by  buying  or  leasing  the  land  containing 
the  coal-beds.  But  the  coal  operator  enjoys  a  great  advantage  over  the 
oil  operator  in  the  certainty  of  finding  what  he  is  after.  The  oil  man  can 
only  hope,  or,  at  the  most,  expect,  to  find  oil  in  the  land  he  has  bought 
or  leased,  since  there  cannot  be  any  certainty  of  its  existence  there  ;  but 
the  extent  of  the  coal-beds  is  so  well  defined,  in  general,  that  in  securing 
territory  for  mining:  purposes,  the  operators  know  that  their  land  con- 
tains coal.  But  the  expense  of  opening  up  a  mine  and  of  taking  out  the 
coal,  far  exceeds  that  of  sinking  an  oil  well  and  securing  the  oil— if  there 
happens  to  be  any  at  that  point  to  secure.  It  requires  a  large  amount  of 
money  for  the  erection  of  the  necessary  buildings,  the  purchase  of  ma- 
chinery, coal  cars,  etc.,  the  opening  of  the  mine  by  a  shaft,  or  in  some 
other  way,  and  to  pay  the  large  number  of  miners  and  other  workmen  that 
must  always  be  employed.  In  the  caseof  oil  operations,  the  expense  after 
the  well  is  completed  is  but  small— the  well  perhaps  flowing  of  itself  at  a 
wonderful  rate  for  a  long  time,  and  after  this  ceases  requires  but  one  man 
to  keep  the  pump  going.  But  in  mining,  while  the  expense  of  opening 
the  mine  and  getting  everything  ready  to  handle  the  coal  produced  is 
very  great,  indeed,  yet  the  expense  does  not  end  here,  by  any  im.-uns. 
The  coal  does  not  flow  out  of  itself,  hundreds  or  thousands  of  dollars 
worth  of  it  a  day  when  the  bed  is  reached;  oh,  no;  it  can  only  be  even 
then  secured  at  a  great  cost  of  time,  labor  and  money,  as  we  shall  see. 
As  large  capital  is  thus  required,  the  business  of  mining  is,  for  the  most 
part,  in  the  hands  of  wealthy  companies,  who  own,  or  have  leased,  large 
tracts  of  coal  land. 

The  cost  of  opening  and  operating  a  colliery  depends  upon  several 
things,  but  more  largely  than  anything  else  upon  the  position  of  the  coal- 
bed  or  beds  to  be  opened  up,  requiring  this  or  that  kind  of  an  opening 
to  be  made  to  reach  the  coal  to  be  mined.  You  see  how  rough  and 
rugged  the  country  is,  and  you  have  been  shown  too,  how  the  rock  and 
coal-beds  are  twisted  and  wrinkled  and  jumbled  up  ;  in  some  places 
being  flat,  in  others  standing  on  edge,  or  doubled  back  upon  themselves, 
and  so  on.  All  this  affects  the  cost  of  operating  a  colliery. 

Let  us  see,  then,  how  mines  are  opened  up — which  will  soon  bring 
us  to  the  answer  to  Miss  Inquisitive's  question.  There  are  four  ways  of 
opening  a  mine,  each  of  which  we  will  examine,  beginning  with  the  one 
.the  least  difficult  and  expensive.  With  some  of  these  we  may  not  meet 
in  this  locality,  however,  perhaps  not  at  all,  during  our  brief  stay  in  the 
anthracite  region.  This  being  the  case,  the  present  explanation  should 
be  listened  to  the  more  carefully. 


DRIFTS  AND  TUNNELS.  31 

The  method  to  be  employed  in  the  opening  of  a  mine  is  not  always 
a  matter  of  choice  on  the  part  of  the  owners,  but  is  indicated  by  the  po- 
sition of  the  coal-bed  or  beds  in  relation  to  the  surface  of  the  land  em- 
braced within  the  territory  of  the  company.  The  conditions  may  vary 
so  much  in  adjoining  properties  as  to  require  a  different  plan  of  opera- 
^ions  in  each.  The  simplest  and  cheapest  form  of  opening,  and  the  one 
employed  wherever  possible,  is  what  is  called  the  drift.  Drift  mining, 
however,  is  possible  only  where  the  coal-bed  is  flat,  or  nearly  so,  and 
'  crops  out '  along  a  hillside.  What  do  I  mean  by  '  out  crop  ?'  Why,  the 
'out  crop  '  of  a  coal-bed,  or  of  any  rock  bed,  is  where  it  appears  along 
the  face  or  side  of  a  hill.  It — Here,  Nell,  hand  me  that  piece  of  paper ; 
Ned,  lend  me  your  pencil.  Now,  I'll  show  you  what  I  mean.  Here  we 
have  a  hill.  Now,  I'll  make  some  rock  strata,  and  just  here  I'll  make  a 
coal-bed — making  it  '  black  as  coal,'  as  the  boys  say.  Now,  where  the 
rock  and  coal-beds  show  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  as  you  see  they  do,  they 


DRIFT  "   MINE. 

are  said  to  '  crop  out. '  They  may  not  always  be  seen  thus  cropping  out, 
as  they  are  generally  covered  with  a  thin  coat  of  soil  where  the  hill  is  not 
very  steep  ;  but  along  steep  hillsides,  where  the  soil  cannot  gather  to 
hide  them,  they  can  be  seen — that  is,  their  edges — just  as  you  may  have 
seen  them  in  cuts  and  quarries. 

Since  I  have  this  picture,  I  may  as  well  use  it  to  explain  more  clearly 
drift  mining.  Here,  then,  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  where  the  coal  crops 
out — here  at  the  left,  Bess— the  opening  would  be  made  right  into  the 
coal-bed,  or  '  seam,'  as  it  is  commonly  called,  and  carried  back  along  it 
into  the  hill.  I'll  rub  out  the  pencil  mark,  along  here,  and  the  white 
streak  made  in  our  coal-bed  will  show  how  far  back  the  mining  has  been 
carried  on.  Oh,  no  ;  the  mining  is  not  carried  on  along  just  a  single 
opening,  but  branches  out  from  it,  right  and  left — as  we  shall  see  to-mor- 
roW.  The  coal  in  such  a  mine  can  be  hauled  right  out,  in  little  cars,  by 
horses  or  mules,  without  the  use  of  the  expensive  winding  machinery  we 
saw  in  operation  this  afternoon  ;  tracks  upon  which  the  cars  run  being  laid 
on  the  bottom  or  floor  of  the  mine.  Right  here  we  will  put  the  breaker, 
which  is  always  as  near  the  mouth  of  the  mine  as  the  nature  of  the  ground 
will  permit.  There!  now  we  have  a  very  fair  representation  of  a  drift 


32  DRIFTS  AND  TUNNELS. 

mine.  Much  of  the  earlier  mining  in  the  anthracite  region  was  done  in 
this  way  ;  but  not  much  of  it  is  now  done,  as  nearly  all  the  coal  that 
could  be  so  reached  has  already  been  taken  out. 

Our  picture  does  not,  of  course,  show  us  what  a  mine  is  like  inside  ; 
this  we  will  see  to-morrow.  I  will  say,  here,  however,  that  the  opening 
into  a  mine,  as  well  as  all  the  other  openings  throughput  the  mine — the 
gangways,  airways,  breasts — Hold !  hold  !  one  at  a  time,  and  I'll  try  to 
answer  you.  No  ;  I  won't,  either.  We'll  leave  these  questions  unan- 
swered for  the  present  and  go  straight  ahead  with  the  matter  already 
in  hand.  To  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  different  localities,  all  important 
openings  made  in  the  coal  seams,  by  mining  the  coal,  must  be  '  tim- 
bered '—that  is,  have  great  numbers  of  strong  posts  set  up  and  beams 
otherwise  placed,  to  hold  up  the  roof  or  sides.  In  some  mines  the  roof 
may  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  need  no  propping  in  some  places ;  but  as 
a  rule,  timbering  is  necessary.  To  leave  the  roof  unsupported,  would  be 


'•  Tl  NNKI."    MINI-,. 

to  have  it  constantly  falling  down,  killing  or  injuring  the  miners 
and  blocking  up  the  mines.  In  such  an  opening  as  this  I  have  shown, 
as  in  other  similar  passages,  a  row  of  heavy  posts  lines  each  side,  while 
heavy  beams  rest  upon  the  upper  ends,  running  '  cross  ways  '  of  the  open- 
ing. Other  lighter  timbers  or  planks  are  placed  behind  the  posts  and  on 
top  of  the  cross-beams,  (running  lengthwise,  that  is,)  and  thus  the  roof 
and  sides  are  kept  in  place. 

Now  for  another  kind  of  opening— the  tunnel.  As  in  drift  mining, 
the  opening  is  made  from  the  side  of  the  hill,  but  it  is  made  not  in  the 
coal  seam,  but  in  the  rocks,  through  which  it  is  carried  in  order  to  reach 
the  coal,  which  is  so  situated  that  a  drift  opening  cannot  be  made.  Let 
me  make  another  picture  in  order  to  show  you  how  the  coal-bed  lies 
where  a  tunnel,  instead  of  a  drift,  opening  must  be  made.  The  coal, 
you  see,  does  not  lie  flat,  or  nearly  so,  as  in  the  drift  mine  I  have 
just  pictured,  but  runs — that's  it,  exactly,  Nell — 'every  which  way.'  Now 
in  such  a  case,  an  opening  would  be  made  here  at  the  right  and  carried 
in  through  the  rocks  until  the  coal  seam  would  be  struck— just  here. 


SLOPES  AND  SHAFTS.  33 

From  this  point  mining  would  be  carried  on,  an  opening  being  made 
through  the  coal  and  the  work  extended  to  each  side.  The  tunnel 
would  also  be  carried  further  ahead  until  the  coal  would  again  be  struck 
— here — and  mining  would  then  be  commenced  at  this  point.  The  tun- 
nel would  again  be  driven  forward,  and  at  each  point  where  it  struck 
the  coal,  mining  operations  would  be  begun — the  coal  being  hauled  out 
through  the  tunnel  to  the  breaker.  These  white  spaces  in  the  coal  seam 
show  where  the  coal  has  been  taken  out,  as  in  this  other  picture — no 
mining  having  been  done  in  the  solid  black  sections  appearing  between 
the  ends  of  the  white  spaces.  Where  the  coal-beds  lie  about  as  here 
shown,  tunneling  is  the  best  way  to  reach  them. 

In  neither  drift  nor  tunnel  workings  is  it  necessary  to  use  machinery 
in  hauling  the  coal  from  the  mines.  We  come  now,  however,  to  open- 
ings of  another  kind — those  through  which  the  coal  can  be  taken  out 
only  by  the  use  of  machinery.  Such  openings  are  either  slopes  or  shafts. 
And  now  for  the  answer  to  Miss  Inquisitive's  question  ;  poor  girl !  how 
long  she  has  been  waiting  for  it !  " 


x. 

'SLOPES"  AND  "SHAFTS." 


"Slopes  and  shafts  are  necessary  where  the  coal-beds  are  found,  not 
in  the  hills,  but  deeper  ;  that  is,  at  a  considerable  depth  beneath  the  gen- 
eral surface  of  the  land,  and  can  only  be  reached  by  sinking  an  opening 
to  them.  The  points  of  difference  between  a  slope  and  a  shaft  we  will 
now  consider. 

A  slope  opening  is  made  where  a  coal-bed,  while  lying,  in  general, 
some  distance  below  the  surface,  is,  by  reason  of  an  upward  turn  of  the 
strata,  brought  to  the  surface,  or  very  close  to  it,  at  least,  at  some  point 
on  the  company's  property.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  opening — the 
slope — is  made.  It  is  made  in  the  coal-rocks  having  to  be  passed 
through  for  a  short  distance  at  the  top,  in  some  instances,  however,  and 
runs  directly  down  the  sloping  seam,  the  name  slope  being,  therefore, 
exactly  descriptive  of  its  general  character.  One  or  more  railway  tracks 
are  laid  on  the  bottom  of  the  slope,  and  the  coal  as  it  is  mined,  far  out  on 
either  side,  is  put  into  cars  and  drawn  to  the  surface  by  hoisting,  or  wind- 
ing machinery,  as  it  is  called,  such  as  we  have  already  seen.  I  will  make 
a  picture  of  a  slope,  also  ;  there,  that  will  do.  This  white  streak  repre- 
sents the  slope,  of  course.  Away  down  here,  you  see,  I  have  made  the 
coal-bed  nearly  flat,  as  it  may  be  for  some  distance  before  again  rising. 

The  pitch  or  slant  of  a  slope  will  depend,  of  course,  upon  the  steep- 
ness of  the  dip  of  the  coal  seam  down  which  it  runs.  In  some  mines  the 
3 


34 


SHAFTS  AND  SLOPES. 


slope  is  very  steep,  indeed,  while  in  others  it  has  but  a  slight  pitch,  and 
the  miners  can  readily  walk  up  and  down  it.  How  high  ?  Usually  about 
seven  feet  between  the  railway  tracks  and  the  roof-timbers  ;  sometimes 
more,  however.  Slopes,  as  a  rule,  require  most  substantial  timbering — 
sides  and  roof — throughout.  They  are,  too,  divided  into  three  or  more 
compartments  throughout  their  whole  length.  Two  of  these  compart- 
ments have  tracks  laid  in  them,  being  used  for  the  drawing  up  of  the  coal, 
etc.  The  third  compartment  is  occupied,  in  part,  by  the  pump  pipes 
used  in  keeping  the  mine  free  from  water,  and  by  other  fixtures,  in  some 
instances.  It  is  used  at  some  collieries  as  an  airway,  also. 

.  We  now  come  to  the  fourth  kind  of  opening,  the  shaft.  Shaft  col- 
lieries are  the  most  expensive  of  all.  But  there  is  no  help  for  it;  in  many 
places  if  the  coal  is  to  be  taken  out  at  all,  it  must  be  through  a  shaft. 


"SLOPS"  MINE. 

Shaft  openings,  then,  are  made  where  the  coal-beds  lie  beneath  the  sur. 
face,  and  without  coming  close  to  it  at  any  point,  as  it  does  where  slopes 
are  made.  Much  of  the  coal  is  thus  situated,  lying  at  different  depths, 
in  different  localities.  A  shaft  differs  from  a  slope  in  that  it  is  sunk  ver- 
tically*— or,  as  we  commonly  say,  straight  down  instead  of  slanting; 
also  in  that  it  is,  of  necessity,  sunk  through  the  rock  strata,  until  the  coal 
seam  is  reached,  instead  of  in  the  coal  seam  itself.  I  will  make  a  picture 
of  such  a  colliery,  also.  Here  is  the  coal-bed,  lying,  say  500  feet  from 
the  surface.  Here  is  the  shaft,  running  down  through  the  rocks  overly- 
ing the  coal.  When  the  shaft  has  been  sunk  down  into  the  coal,  open- 
ings are  made  in  the  seam  at  each  side,  as  in  the  other  instances,  and 
mining  is  begun,  the  coal  being  lifted  from  the  mine  through  the  shaft  by 

*  In  the  anthracite  region,  "  shaft  "  is  understood  to  mean  such  a  vertical  opening.  In 
some  other  localities  the  name  is  given  to  a  sloping  opening  similar,  in  general,  to  the  "  slope  " 
of  the  anthracite  region  (as  already  described),  but  sunk  of  necessity  entirely  in  rock  to  the 
deep-lying  coal,  instead  of  down  the  sloping  coal  seam  itself. 


SHAFTS  AND  SLOPES. 


35 


the  heavy  and  powerful  machinery  at  the  top.  These  white  spaces,  as 
before,  show  the  extent  of  the  '  workings  '  where  the  coal  has  been  mined. 
A  shaft  may  be  made  to  reach  several  beds,  at  different  depths,  of  course, 
and  mining  be  done  in  each. 

How  large?  Oh,  of  various  sizes.  They  are  from  10  to  12  feet  wide, 
but  vary  greatly  in  length,  according  to  the  number  of  compartments  it  is 
desired  to  have.  For  two  compartments  they  are  from  16  to  20  feet 
wide  ;  for  three  compartments,  22  to  26  feet ;  30  to  38  for  four;  and  44  to 
52  for  the  extra  large  ones  having  six  compartments  ;  only  a  few,  how- 
ever, are  made  of  these  large  sizes.  Where  two  hoisting  compartments 
are  used,  one  is  for  an  up,  and  the  other  a  down  cage,  as  you  already 
know,  the  same'  openings  being  used  for  the  hoisting  of  both  men  and 
coal.  As  one  of  the  laws  of  the  state,  for  the  protection  of  miners,  forbids 
the  hoisting  or  lowering  of  more  than  ten  men  at  a  time,  and  as  no  coal 


"  SHAFT"  MINE. 

may  be  raised  during  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  men,  up  or  down,  a 
loss  of  one  or  two  hours  of  coal  hoisting  every  day  is  occasioned  by  the 
coming  and  going  of  the  miners  and  other  workmen.  This  loss  is  pre- 
vented in  the  case  of  large  shafts  with  four  or  more  compartments;  one  of 
them  being  used  for  the  men  and  two  for  coal  exclusively.  Others  are 
used  as  airways,  etc.  The  quantity  of  coal,  by  the  way,  which  some  ol 
the  largest  collieries  put  out,  is  very  large — a  thousand  or  more  tons  per 
day.  To  do  this,  the  cages  are  kept  fairly  flying  up  and  down  the  shaft 
as  rapidly  as  an  express  train  !  a  wonderful  contrast  to  the  methods  em- 
ployed and  the  results  obtained,  by  our  grandfathers. 

Dig  them  ?  Oh,  no,  excepting  at  the  top  where  soil  and  clay  cover 
the  rocks.  Shafts,  slopes  and  all  the  openings  I  have  mentioned  are 
made  by  blasting.  Deep  holes,  an  inch  or  two  in  diameter,  are  sunk  into 
the  rock  by  means  of  drills,  (bars  of  steel,  with  an  edge  at  one  end,  or 
machines  which  are  made  to  bore  into  the  rock,)  and  these  holes  are  filled 
with  powder  which  is  then  exploded,  blowing  loose  the  rock  or  coal.  In 


$6  SHAFTS  AND  SLOPES. 

shaft-sinking  a  method  of  deep  drilling  has  been  employed  successfully. 
A  large  number  of  holes,  distributed  over  the  surface  embraced  within 
the  shaft,  are  drilled  by  means  of  machinery  to  a  depth  of  200  or  300  feet. 

and  are  then  filled  with  sand.  When 
a  shot  is  to  be  made,  five  or  six  feet  of 
the  sand  is  taken  from  each  hole,  and 
the  space  left  is  filled  with  powder, 
which  is  exploded  at  the  same  instant 
in  all  the  holes.  When  the  broken 
rock  has  been  removed,  another  shot 
is  fired,  and  so  on  to  the  bottom  of  the 
holes.  The  depth  of  shafts,  here,  is 
from  400  to  600  feet;  800  in  some  other 
places;  while  a  depth  of  nearly  1,600 
feet  has  been  found  necessary  in  some 
localities.  These  depths,  you  will  un- 
derstand, represent  the  distance  of  the 
coal-ln-ds  be-low  UK-  surface,  in  differ- 
ent plact-s. 

Tin-  opening  of  miiu-^,  i-sprrially  by 
means  of  large  shafts,  is  very  slow  and 
expensive  work,  200  to  300  feet  per 
year  being  ordinarily  the  depth  made. 
Hut  besides  the  main  opening,  a  law 
of  the  state  makes  it  necessary  that  a 
set  ond  opening  he  made  at  a  distance 
of  not  less  than  150  feet  from  the  first. 
This  is  for  the  protection  of  tin- miners, 
logivr  them  a  double  chance  to  escape 
in  case  of  accidents,  explosions,  fires, 
etc.,  in  the  mine.  These  second  open- 
ings, however,  are  smaller  than  the 
main  ones.  Some  shafts,  because  of 
the  nature  of  the  rocks  through  which 
they  pass,  require  complete  timbering. 
Inside  this  are  placed,  running  from  top 
to  bottom,  the  strong  wooden  '  guides' 
against  which  the  sides  of  the  cages 
rest,  sliding  up  and  down.  Where 
complete  timbering  is  not  required, 
timbers  or  beams  are  placed  across 
the  opening,  the  ends  resting  in  niches 
or  pockets  cut  into  the  walls  of  rock,  and  to  these  the  guides  for  the 
cages  are  made  fast. 

You  notice  that  I  have  made  the  white  spaces  representing  the  work- 
ings in  the  heart  of  the  coal  seam  ;  perhaps  I  should  explain  in  regard  to 


YE  OLDEN   TIME. 


SHAFTS  AND  SLOPES.  37 

the  location  of  the  main  openings,  and  of  others  inside  the  mines.  The 
beds  which  are  now  being  mined  are  the  best  in  the  anthracite  region — 
the  greatest  in  thickness.  There  are  about  thirty  coal-beds  or  seams  in 
the  anthracite  region,  although  only  part  of  them  may  be  found  in  any  one 
of  the  great  basins.  These  beds  range  in  thickness  from  the  very  light 
or  shallow  ones,  not  now  made  use  of,  to  the  great  Mammoth  bed,  which 
at  different  points  is  from  30  to  50  and  even  60  feet  thick.  At  some 
points  this  bed  is  completely  doubled  back  upon  itself,  giving  TOO  feet  of 
coal  in  one  thickness.  But  the  coal-beds  are  very  seldom 
composed  entirely  of  coal,  but  are  divided  up  into  parts  of 
various  thickness  by  seams  or  *  partings '  of  dirt,  slate, 
bone, '  as  it  is  called,  etc.  These  partings,  which  in 
thickness  are  from  an  inch  or  less,  in  some  instances,  to  a 
foot  or  more,  in  others,  make  the  refuse  material,  or  'gob,' 
in  mining,  and  give  no  direct  return  in  money  for  the 
expense  incurred  in  digging  and  handling  it.  However, 
a  heavy  parting  in  a  thick  coal-bed  is  often  a  very  great 
help  to  mining  operations.  The  separate  parts  of  a  coal- 
bed  thus  divided,  are  called  '  benches '  and  it  is  much 
more  easy  to  mine  out  one  bench  after  another,  between 
the  partings,  than  it  would  be  to  take  out  a  great  thick- 
ness of  coal  without  such  partings. 

These  partings  usually  make  up,  as  taken  together,  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  thickness  of  a  coal-bed,  and 
often  much  of  the  coal  in  a  bed  may  be  left  untouched  at 
the  bottom  or  the  top,  as  the  case  may  be,  because  it  is  so 
divided  by  these  '  dirt '  seams  as  to  make  it  unprofitable 
to  mine  it.  In  driving  the  main  openings  in  the  very 
thick  beds,  they  may  be  made  at  the  bottom,  or  higher, 
as  mining  experience  shows  to  be  the  most  advantageous 
under  the  circumstances  surrounding  each  case — the  coal 
lying  higher  being  taken  out,  later,  as  the  work  goes  on, 
opening  out  at  each  side.  Where  the  beds  are  not  too 
deep,  the  whole  thickness  of  good  coal  from  floor  to  roof 
is  taken  out  at  the  one  operation,  as  is  commonly  the 
case  in  the  bituminous  regions. 

Now  I  have  explained  the  various  methods  of  opening 
a  mine,  so  far  as  the  making  of  the  main  opening,  from 
which  others  branch,  and  through  which  all  the  coal  is 
brought  to  the  surface,  is  concerned.  But  it  is  through  the  other  openings, 
gangways,  etc.,  alluded  to  a  while  ago,  that  the  great  body  of  the  coal 
is  reached  and  taken  out.  As  it  is  yet  early,  let  us  learn  something 
about  these  other  openings  and  how  the  coal  is  mined,  so  as  to  become 
somewhat  familiar,  in  a  sense,  with  these  matters,  before  seeing  them  to- 
morrow. The  less  time  spent  in  explanations  at  each  point,  the  more  we 
can  see  in  a  certain  time,  you  know." 


38       GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC. 


XI. 

PLAN  OF  "WORKINGS"— GANGWAYS,  SHUTES, 
HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC. 


"When  the  opening,  of  whatever  kind,  has  been  carried  far  enough 
for  the  purpose,  the  work  of  extending  the  mine,  on  each  side  of  the  open- 
ing, is  begun.  The  principal  opening  of  those  within  the  mine,  and  the 
one  first  made,  after  the  shaft  or  slope  has  been  carried  far  enough,  is  the 
gangway.  It  is  carried  off  from  the  shaft  or  slope  on  each  side,  nearly 
level,  and  extends  far  out  through  the  coal.  It  is  the  passageway  for  the 
bringing  of  all  the  coal  mined  throughout  a  large  part  of  the  seam  to  tin- 
shaft  or  slope,  tp  be  raised  to  the  surface.  It  is  the  main  street,  we  may 
lay,  of  the  mine,  into  which  all  the  travrl  and  traffic  of  the  side  and  cross 
streets  is  carried.  It  must,  therefore,  be  made  wide  enough,  high  enough 
and  level  enough,  to  accommodate  this  travel  and  traffic,  and  must  be 
well  protected,  where  necessary,  from  being  blockaded  by  the  failing  of 
the  roof  or  sides.  It  is,  then,  usually  made  from  9  to  10  feet  high,  and 
from  10  to  14  feet  wide,  at  the  bottom,  or  floor,  of  the  mine.  The  sides 
slope  inward  toward  the  top,  which  is,  then,  of  course,  less  wide  than 
the  bottom,  or  from  9  to  10  feet.  Timbering  in  some  gangways  is  needed 
on  both  sides  and  at  the  top ;  in  others,  especially  where  the  coal-bed 
dips  steeply,  the  upper  side  only,  or  the  upper  side  and  roof,  will  need 
such  support.  But  whenever  and  however  used,  the  timbering  must  be 
heavy  and  well  built  in,  as  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  as  you  can 
see,  to  keep  the  gangway  from  being  obstructed  by  falls  of  coal  or  slate, 
which  would,  if  they  occurred,  stop  all  travel  through  the  gangway  and  stop 
also  a  great  part  of  the  work,  inside  and  outside,  until  the  track  should 
be  cleared  for  the  passage  of  the  mine  cars,  again.  For  some  distance  on 
each  side  of  the  slope,  as  we  will  say  it  Is,  the  gangway  is  made  wider,  to 
give  room  for  the  passage  of  the  cars,  loaded  and  empty,  which  center 
here  from  all  parts  of  the  mine — the  loaded  ones  to  be  raised,  the  empty 
ones  as  sent  down  to  be  carried  back  into  the  mine,  to  be  again  filled.  This 
wider  part  is  called  the  'turn-out.'  Double-track  gangways  are  some- 
times made,  which  are,  of  course,  wider  than  the  kind  I  am  describing — 
single-tracks — which  is  more  generally  employed. 

The  gangway  is  made,  or  driven,  we  will  say,  by  blasting  the  coal — 
as  is  the  case  with  other  passageways.  Either  the  upper  part — a  '  bench  ' 
it  may  be,  above  a  dirt  or  slate  parting — is  first  removed,  by  blasting  with 


GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC.       39 

powder,  again  and  again,  and  the  lower  part  afterward  blown  up;  or,  the 
lower  part  is  first  blasted  out  for  a  short  distance,  and  the  upper  part  is 
then  blown  down. 

Ah,  Miss  Inquisitive,  here  you  come  again.  Want  to  know  how  long 
a  gangway  is,  eh  ?  Well,  that's  a  very  innocent  question,  to  be  sure,  and 
one  which  I  will  answer  for  you,  straightway.  Gangways  vary  in  length, 
and  for  more  than  one  reason.  First,  the  length  must  be  limited  by  the 
extent  of  the  territory  owned  or  leased  by  the  company  operating  the 
colliery.  They  must  not,  of  course,  be  carried  across  the  line  into  the 
coal  of  a  neighboring  company,  as— one  at  a  time  !  please,  one  at  a  time  ! 
even  if  you  do  all  ask  the  same  question.  Yes,  indeed,  the  company 
knows  perfectly  well  just  when  it  has  reached  the  limit  of  its  land,  as 
measured  on  the  surface,  though  the 
surface  may  be  hundreds  of  feet  above. 
How?  you  all  ask.  Well,  in  the  seam 
way,  in  general,  that  measurements 
are  made  and  distances  found  at  the 
surface — by  surveying.  Underground 
surveying?  Yes,  indeed  ;  and  it  is  so 
successfully  and  accurately  done  that 
the  limits  of  the  company's  coal-beds 
are  found  to  a  nicety.  But  to  proceed : 
In  the  second  place,  a  gangway  is  lim- 
ited in  length  by  the  nature  of  the  roof 
and  sides,  and  the  expense  necessary 
to  keep  them  up,  and  the  track  clear. 
Where  the  roof  is  of  such  a  nature  that 
but  little  if  any  trouble  and  expense  is 
incurred  in  keeping  a  gangway  open, 
it  may  be  carried  several  miles  from 
the  shaft  or  other  opening  ;  but  in 
other  cases,  where  the  roof  is  so  poor 
as  to  be  a  continual  source  of  annoy- 
ance, requiring  much  outlay  for  repairs, 
in  order  to  keep  a  gangway  open,  throughout  a  great  length,  the  distance 
to  which  the  gangway  is  carried  is  much  less  than  under  different  circum- 
stances— perhaps  not  more  than  a  mile,  if  so  far.  In  such  a  case,  a  new 
slope  or  other  opening  may  be  made,  and  new  gangways  started,  as  being 
less  expensive,  and  otherwise  preferable  to  keeping  a  long  gangway  open 
under  such  difficulties. 

But  we  are  '  ahead  of  developemnts,  '  as  the  oil  men  say  of  the 
'wild-cat'  operations.  Long  before  the  gangway  has  reached  such 
distances  as  those  mentioned,  indeed,  before  it  has  been  carried  more 
than  a  comparatively  short  distance  from  the  slope,  other  openings  are 
being  made.  You  all  know  how  necessary  it  is  for  you  to  have  air,  fresh 
air,  and  plenty  of  it.  Well,  the  miners  are  just  like  you  and  everybody  else, 


DRIVING"  A  GANGWAY. 


40       GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC. 

in  this  respect.  They  must  have  fresh  air,  and  enough  of  it.  But  hundreds 
of  feet  below  the  ground  fresh  air  is  not  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  or  the 
taking — as  here  above  ground ;  in  fact,  it  is  not  to  be  had  at  all,  we  may 
say,  under  ordinary  circumstances.  To  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  to 
make  the  air  of  mines  such  that  men  can  work  in  comfort,  so  far  as 
breathing  is  concerned,  fresh  air  is  sent  down  the  mine  from  the  top,  and 
carried  in  airways  to  every  part  of  the  mine.  The  airway  is  not  nearly 
so  large  as  the  gangway.  One  of  the  mine  laws  of  the  state  says  that  it 
must  not  be  less  than  20  square  feet  in  area,  which  would  be  4  feet  one 
way  and  5  feet  the  other ;  but  they  are  commonly  made  even  larger  than 
this,  I  believe,  by  considerate  and  careful  mine  owners.  The  air  is  forced 
down  in  the  mine  from  the  top  by  immense  fans — wheels  with  blades  or 
wings  to  gather  the  air.  At  the  bottom,  it  follows  the  airways  made  for 
it.  The  airway  is  usually  made  alongside  the  gangway,  and  rather  at  its 
top,  and  on  the  upper  side,  when  the  coal  seam  dips.  As  the  air  is  to  be 
carried  to  the  farther  end,  and  then  made  to  flow  back  through  all  the 
parts  of  the  mine  where  the  miners  are  at  work,  it  is  necessary  to  confine 
it,  to  prevent  it  from  mingling  with  the  air  in  the  gangway,  or  other 
openings ;  a  certain  quantity  of  it,  only,  being  allowed  to  get  into  the 
gangway,  through  holes  made  for  the  purpose.  To  thus  confine  the  air, 
the  side  of  the  gangway  is  made  air-tight  by  planking  it.  This  plank  par- 
tition is  called  a  '  brattice. '  The  airway  is  carried  back  along  each  gang- 
way, as  the  gangway  is  extended. 

To  get  at  the  main  body  of  the  coal,  other  passages  and  openings 
are  made,  some  running  off  from  the  gangway  at  a  right  angle  to  it,  and 
others  connecting  these  again, running  parallel  with  the  gangway.  To 
help  you  understand  the  arrangement  of  these  openings,  1  think  I  would 
better  make  you  a  picture  of  the  inside  of  a  mine,  showing  tlu-sr 
openings.  While  I  am  drawing  it,  you  may  talk,  or  sing,  or  play,  as  you 
please. 

Here,  now,  is  our  picture — representing  a  slope  colliery',  and  one  in 
which  work  has  been  carried  on  for  quite  a  long  while,  already.  This  is 
the  slope — running  down  here,  the  center  of  the  workings ;  you  see  I 
have  marked  it,  as  well  as  some  of  the  other  openings.  This  is  the 
surface  where  the  coal  crops  out— up  here,  at  the  right;  and  the  breaker 
and  other  buildings  would  be  placed  just  here.  Over  here,  and  run- 
ning parallel  with  the  slope,  from  the  surface,  is  an  airway— smaller  than 
the  slope  you  see.  These  large  white  spaces,  here,  one  on  either  side  of 
the  slope,  are  old  workings  where  the  coal  has  been  taken  out,  the 
work  now  being  carried  on  farther  down  the  seam. 

Of  this  matter  of  workings,  let  me  speak  more  fully.  Mining  carried 
on  as  I  have  here  shown  it,  is  called  'lift '-mining.  When  the  slope  has 
been  carried  down,  say,  100  yards  from  the  surface,  (it  may  be  from  75  to 
125  yards  in  different  collieries,)  a  gangway  is  opened  out  on  each  side, 
and  the  coal  is  taken  out  on  the  upper  side  of  the  gangway,  toward  the 
top  ;  this  is  called  tf\e  first  lift.  I  have  shown  the  first  lift  here,  as  having 


GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC.       41 


42       GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC. 

been  finished,  the  coal  all  having  been  taken  out,  as  you  see,  except- 
ing this  row  of  nearly  square  blocks,  along  here.  These  blocks  are 
called  stumps— gangway  stumps— and  are  left  to  hold  up  the  roof  of  the 
mine,  in  order  to  prevent  a  'crush '  or  'squeeze.' — No,  not  now  ;  I'll  tell 
you  about  these  things  at  another  time.  Here  is  the  gangway,  you  see, 
between  the  stumps  and  this  thick  strip  of  coal  on  the  lower  side.  The 
gangway,  you  see,  extends  on  either  side,  to  the  limit  of  my  picture, 
which  we  will  suppose  is  also  the  limit  of  the  company's  property  in  these 
directions. 

Here,  again,  another  100  yards  lower,  we  find  other  workings — the 
second  lift.  The  thick  strip  of  coal  left  unmined  between  the  first  and 
second  lifts,  and  which,  I  may  add,  is  always  left  between  any  'two  lifts  or 
workings,  is  called  the  chain  pillar.  It  is  of  considerable  thickness,  and 
is  left  to  firmly  support  the  roof;  if  taken  out  a  'crush'  or  'squee/r' 
would  follow,  perhaps  destroying  the  whole  or  a  very  great  portion,  at 
least,  of  the  workings  throughout  the  mine.  You  notice,  too,  that  similar 
strips  of  coal,  though  not  so  thick  as  the  chain  pillars,  are  left  standing 
along  the  sides  of  the  slope,  between  it  and  the  workings.  These  are 
called  slope  pillars,  and  protect  the  slope  from  lx  in-  rlosrd  by  the 
falling  of  the  roof,  assisting  the  chain  pillars  in  preventing  serious  ac- 
cidents of  this  kind.  A  strip  of  coal  is  also  left  above  the  first  lift,  next 
to  the  surface,  as  you  see. 

Let  us  examine  the  workings  here,  in  the  second  lift.  First,  here  is 
the  gangway,  at  the  lower  side.  Ha !  ha !  you  couldn't  stand  it  any 
longer,  young  lady;  could  you?  I  know  you  must  be  fairly  aching  to 
ask  me  about  those  white  and  black  patches,  as  you  call  them.  \\V11, 
I'll  satisfy  your  curiosity,  at  once.  These  are  the  other  side  openings  to 
which  I  alluded  a  few  moments  ago.  The  gangway  having  been  carried 
back  some  distance  from  the  slope,  in  opening  up  a  new  lift,  the  mining 
of  the  coal  on  the  upper  side  is  begun — the  gangway,  at  the  same  time 
being  driven  still  further  back.  When  I  say  'upper  side,'  I  mean  upper  side  ; 
in  this  picture,  the  side  to  the  right.  Always  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that 
we  are  now  speaking,  not  of  a  flat  coal-bed,  but  of  a  tilted  or  pitching 
one,  the  slope  coming  down  the  seam,  like  a  road  down  a  hill,  and  the 
gangways  running  the  other  way,  like  roads  running  along  the  side  of  the 
hill.  The  gangway  is  made  at  the  lower  side  of  a  lift  to  save  labor  in 
handling  the  coal,  after  it  is  mined  ;  the  coal  being  taken  out  above  the 
gangway — further  up  the  hill,  we  will  say — it  is  allowed  to  slide  down 
along  the  floor  of  the  workings  into  the  cars  standing  in  the  gangway  to 
receive  it.  If  the  gangway  were  made  at  the  upper  side,  with  the  work- 
ings below,  all  the  coal,  as  mined,  would  have  to  be  raised  up,  instead  of 
sliding  down  of  itself,  as  now,  to  be  put  into  the  gangway  cars.  A  vast 
amount  of  labor  is  saved,  then,  you  see,  by  following  the  plan  first 
described,  and  which,  I  think,  you  all  understand. 

All  the  coal  on  the  upper  side  of  the  gangways  is  not  taken  out,  as 
you  can  see  by  the  picture.  Strips  of  coal,  as  pillars  or  stumps,  must  be 


GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC.       43 

left  at  certain  distances  throughout  a  mine  to  keep  up  the  roof.  The 
gangway  itself  must  be  so  protected  ;  and  so  a  considerable  thickness  of 
coal,  6  to  12  yards,  is  left  at  the  upper  side.  The  real  workings,  then,  do 
not  begin  at  the  gangway,  but  at  another  smaller  opening,  running 
parallel  with  the  gangway,  at  the  upper  side  of  the  strip  of  coal  to  be  left 
standing  along  the  gangway.  This  opening  is  the  heading — here — and 
is  usually  4  to  6  feet  wide  and  6  feet  high.  From  this  are  opened  up  the 
breasts  or  rooms  in  which  the  real  mining  is  done.  But  as  the  coal 
mined  is  to  go  to  the  cars  in  the  gangway — sliding  down,  as  I  have  stated 
— there  must  be  openings,  corresponding  with  each  breast,  made  in  the 
strip  of  coal  between  the  gangway  and  heading,  through  which  the  loose 
coal  can  pass.  These  openings  are  called  shutes,  and  are  made  4  to  6 
feet  wide  and  4  feet  high.  Here  they  are,  these  narrow  openings  which 
connect  the  gangway  and  heading,  and  in  some  of  which  I  have  made  an 
S — for  shute.  By  means  of  a  platform  built  in  the  lower  end  of  the 
shute,  to  a  height  equal  to  that  of  the  mine  cars,  the  coal  slides  down 
the  shute  and  drops  into  the  car  standing  on  the  gangway  track.  In 
very  steep-dipping  beds,  the  loose  coal  comes  tumbling  down  at  a  great 
rate,  while  in  those  where  the  dip  is  comparatively  slight,  it  must  be 
pushed  along.  These  shutes  divide  the  strip  of  coal  left  standing  into  a 
number  of  blocks,  as  you  see  ;  these  are  the  gangway  stumps — the  same 
as  you  saw  yet  standing  in  the  first  lift.  I  was  not  careful,  enough,  I  notice, 
in  making  my  picture.  Some  of  the  shutes  appear  wider  than  others, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  the  stumps,  as  also  of  some  of  the  other  openings 
and  pillars.  We  can  correct  this  in  our  minds,  however. 

Now  for  the  breasts — the  real  mining  places.  These  white  spaces 
above  the  heading  represent  the  breasts,  the  black  strips  between  being 
the  pillars  left  standing  to  support  the  roof.  Breasts  are  commonly 
about  8  yards  wide,  but  sometimes,  are  made  12  yards  wide — the  width 
varying  in  different  mines,  depending  upon  the  nature,  to  some  extent, 
of  the  roof.  The  pillars  between  the  breasts  are  usually  equal  in  thick- 
ness to  the  width  of  the  breasts.  Where  the  roof  is  poor,  they  are  not 
so  thick  as  in  other  cases,  but  are  more  numerous,  the  rooms  being  less 
wide.  These  pillars,  however,  are  not  to  remain  permanently,  the  coal 
in  them  thus  being  lost ;  but  when  all  the  breasts  have  been  mined  out, 
up  to  the  chain  pillar,  like  these  nearest  the  slope,  the  pillars  are  re- 
moved— '  robbed  out ' — beginning  at  the  farther  end,  and  coming  toward 
the  slope,  as  has  been  done  in  this  first  lift,  you  see. 

These  first  breasts  or  rooms,  nearest  the  slope,  have  been  worked 
entirely  out,  that  is,  they  have  been  carried  up  to  the  point  where  the  coal 
is  to  be  left  as  the  chain  pillar.  Farther  on,  you  see,  they  are  not  com- 
pleted, having  been  begun  later,  as  the  gangway  was  driven  farther  out. 
Away  out  at  the  farther  end  of  the  gangway,  they  are  but  fairly  started. 
These  narrow  openings  which  connect  the  breasts,  or  rooms,  and  which 
cut  the  pillars  between  them,  are  cross-headings.  They  are  made  for 
the  passage  of  the  currents  of  fresh  air,  from  breast  to  breast;  LS  it  is 


44       GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC. 

necessary,  and  required  by  law,  that  a  good  supply  of  fresh  air  be  kept 
constantly  passing  through  every  breast  or  room  in  which  work  is  being 
done,  close  up  to  the  end  of  the  breast,  where  the  miners  are  working. 

Down  here,  now,  100  yards  farther,  is  another  lift — the  third.  Not 
quite  so  much  work  has  been  done  here,  as  in  the  second,  you  see. 
Work  may  be  carried  on  in  three  or  four  lifts  at  the  same  time,  all  the 
coal  going  up  the  slope,  landings  for  the  cars  being  made  at  each  lift.  The 
arrangement  of  gangways,  breasts,  headings,  etc.,  is  the  same  here,  as 
in  the  other  lift,  you  notice  ;  ajid  so  it  would  be  found  in  other  lifts  farther 
down.  In  shaft-mining,  where  several  coal  seams  are  passed  through, 
two  or  three  or  four  of  them  may  be  worked  at  the  same  time,  just  like  so 
many  lifts  in  a  slope  mine. 

Where  the  seam  dips  steeply,  as  we  have  supposed  it  does  in  the 
mine  which  we  have  pictured,  the  mining  operations  are  carried  on  as 


WAGON   BREASTS — IN   FLAT  WORKINGS. 

here  shown, — the  work  being  done  on  the  upper  side  of  the  gangway, 
the  loose  coal  sliding  down  to  the  gangway.  Where  the  dip  or  pitch  is 
not  very  great,  another  method  is  employed.  As  the  coal  cannot  slide 
down,  the  dip  being  too  slight,  it  is  sent  down  from  the  breasts  to  the 
gangway,  as  fast  as  mined,  in  buggies — Hold!  hold!  I'll  explain, 
straightway.  Didn't  expect  to  hear  of  buggies  in  a  coal  mine,  did  you  ? 
Well,  there  are  buggies  in  the  coal  mines,  and  many  of  them,  but  rather 
different  from  the  buggies  you  have  in  mind.  A  coal-mine  buggy  is  an 
iron  box,  on  small  wheels — you'll  see  some  of  them  to-morrow,  perhaps. 
They  are  smaller  than  the  cars  which  run  in  the  gangway,  and  made  as 
light  as  possible,  to  make  it  more  easy  to  move  them  about.  The  miners 


GANGWAYS,  SHUTES,  HEADINGS,  BREASTS,  ETC.       45 

pull  them  from  the  gangway,  through  the  passages  made,  up  into  the 
breasts,  load  them  with  the  coal  mined,  and  then  run  them  down  to  the 
gangway,  where  the  coal  is  dumped  on  to  a  platform  and  then  shoveled 
into  the  mine  cars,  or,  it  may  be,  dumped  directly  into  the  cars  from  the 
buggy.  Breasts  from  which  the  coal  is  sent  to  the  gangway  thus,  in  bug- 
gies, are  called  '  buggy  breasts. ' 

Then  there  is  another  method,  employed  where  the  coal  seam  lies 
flat  or  level,  or  very  nearly  so,— as  is  largely  the  case  in  the  bituminous 
coal  region.  In  such  mines  there  is  no  upper  and  lower  sides  along  the 
gangways,  you  can  understand;  and  so  breasts  may  be  opened  out  on  both 
sides,  instead  of  on  but  the  one.  From  these  breasts  the  coal  is  taken 


''BEARING  IN." 

out  in  small  mine-cars,  or  wagons,  as  they  are  here  called.  A  track — a 
switch  from  the  main  track,  in  the  gangway — is  laid  right  into  the  breasts, 
and  the  cars  are  hauled  in,  loaded  and  hauled  out  again.  The  breasts 
may  not  always  be  opened  straight  off  the  gangway  ;  but  in  order  to 
bring  the  grade  right,  or  for  some  other  reason,  may  sometimes  run  off 
—how  shall  I  say  it  ?  Here  !  I  will  make  a  picture  of  it.  These  are  the 
breasts,  you  know  ;  here  are  the  tracks  into  them  ;  and  here  I'll  make  a 
wagon  in  this  breast.  As  the  miners  loosen  the  coal  they  load  it  into  the 
wagons,  beside  them,  throwing  the  refuse,  or  'gob,  '  to  one  side,  against 
the  pillar,  where  it  is  out  of  the  way. 


46  DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 

The  coal,  1  should  have  told  you  earlier,  is  not  found  in  pieces  or 
1  lumps,  '  as  we  buy  it.  It  is  all  one  mass,  and  must  be  broken  up  to  get 
it  out.  In  this,  the  anthracite  region,  this  breaking  and  loosening  of  the 
coal  is  accomplished  by  means  of  blasting, — drilling  holes  into  the  solid 
bed,  and  exploding  powder  in  these  holes.  This  method  is  made  neces- 
sary by  reason  of  the  very  great  hardness  of  the  coal,  digging  or  pick- 
ing it,  as  in  the  bituminous  region,  being  out  of  the  question.  In  the 
bituminous  region,  where  the  coal  is  not  so  hard,  you  know,  the  miner 
gets  down  upon  the  level,  or  nearly  level,  floor  of  the  mine,  in  a  half- 
lying  position,  and  with  his  short  miner's  pick —  and  with  only  the  light 
from  his  little  lamp  to  guide  his  operations  —  digs  back  under  the  face  of 
the  coal  bed,  before  him,  as  far  as  he  can  reach  —  three  or  four  feet ; 
this  he  does  across  the  full  width  of  his  breast  ©r  room.  It  is  slow  work, 
as  but  a  little  of  the  hard,  black  rock  before  him  flies  off  at  each  blow, — 
as  dust  or  very  small  bits, —  and  thousands  of  blows  must  be  struck. 
This  work  is  called  '  bearing  in. '  The  sharp  bits  of  flying  coal  strike  him 
in  the  face  ;  the  dust  fills  his  eyes,  and  blackens  his  hands  and  face  ;  and 
his  back  may  ache ;  but  he  must  keep  steadily  on  until  he  has  carried  the 
opening  under  the  coal  clean  across  his  room.  Not  a  pleasant  occupa- 
tion, that  of  a  coal  miner,  is  it?  Next,  he  must  cut,  or  pick,  if  you  please, 
a  similar  opening,  to  the  same  depth,  at  one  side  of  the  coal,  along  the 
pillar  left  between  him  and  his  neighbor  of  the  next  room.  These  open- 
ings are  about  a  foot  wide  at  the  start,  but  run  to  a  point  at  the  farther 
end,  in  the  coal.  Having  made  these  openings,  to  give  the  coal  a  chain  v 
to  fall,  he  then  drives  wedges  between  the  top  of  the  coal  and  the  over- 
lying slate  or  other  strata, — and  down  comes  the  huge  block  of  coal,  for 
which  he  has  been  so  long  and  so  steadily  picking  away.  A  little  blast- 
ing is  sometimes  done  in  the  bituminous  region. 

Now,  to  bed.  " 


XII. 
DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE." 


"  Whew  !  What  a  ride  !  Rope  break  ?  Well,  let  us  trust  that  it  won't; 
but  if  it  should,  as  there  are  safety  catches  provided  for  just  such  emer- 
gencies, we  should  probably  come  to  a  sudden  stand-still,  unharmed. 
Ah!  here  we  are  at  the  third  lift.  Out  with  you!  Here  !  this  side,  out  of 
the  way  of  the  cars;  you  see,  this  is  a  busy  place,  with  the  cars  coming 
and  going.  Here  comes  a  train  of  mine  cars.  One,  two,  three,  four,  five 
mules  pulling  it.  How  odd  they  look,  tramping  along  one  behind  the 
other,  single  file,  the  leader  with  his  lamp  fastened  to  his  breast!  Proud 
of  it  ?  Who  knows  but  he  is,  as  much  so  as  his  owner  is  of  the  diamond 


DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE.  47 

which  flashes  upon  his  breast.  Sometimes  the  lamp  is  fastened  to  the 
leader's  head.  See  how  well  trained  they  are,  how  intelligent,  indeed; 
how  nicely  they  turned  off  upon  the  proper  switch — pulled  the  cars  up  as 
far  as  they  could — stepped  off  the  track  one  after  the  other,  while  the 
driver  unhooked  the  train — wheeled  and  went  over  upon  that  other  track, 
in  front  of  the  empty  cars — and  marched  off  again,  when  hooked  to  them, 
all  without  a  word  !  Never  let  me  hear  one  of  you  making  fun  of  a  mule, 
after  this.  Why,  they  would  hardly  know  how  to  get  along  in  coal  mines 
without  mules,  many  thousands  of  them  being  thus  employed.  Some 
horses  are  used,  but  mules  are  much  more  desirable.  Small  locomotives 
are  also  used  in  some  instances,  but  there  are  so  many  serious  objections 
to  their  use  that  the  mules  are  not  likely  to  soon  be  displaced.  Here  are 
their  stables  just  back  of  us,  being  placed  close  to  the  slope  that  the 
mules  may  be  quickly  taken  out  of  the  mine  in  case  of  fire  or  other  acci- 
dent. The  stables,  you  see,  are  well  lighted,  and  are  quite  clean  and  dry, 
and  comfortable  in  every  respect,  and  the  mules  may  be  as  well  con- 
tented, down  here,  as  are  their  friends  and  relations  outside.  Here,  too, 
is  the  blacksmith  shop,  where  the  mules  come  when  they  want  a  pair  of 
new  shoes — or  two  pairs,  it  may  be. 

Ah!  here  are  our  lamps — one  for  each.  The  boys  can  easily  arrange 
theirs,  but  I  don't  know  how  it  will  be  with  the  girls,  as  the  lamps  were 
never  made  for  such  hats,  or  for  hoods  and  bonnets.  By  the  way,  I  am 
reminded  that  I  once  read — and  saw  a  picture,  too,  I  think — of  the  em- 
ployment of  women  and  young  girls  in  the  coal  mineS  of  one  of  the  for- 
eign countries.  Whole  families  lived  in  the  mines,  many  persons  going 
outside  but  once  in  a  long,  long  time  ;  just  think  of  that !  Their  condition 
was  most  wretched,  too,  even  the  women  and  girls  being  barefoot, 
and,  indeed,  half  naked, — only  a  coarse  skirt  being  worn,  in  many  cases. 
The  husbands  and  fathers  mined  the  coal,  while  the  women  and  larger 
girls  drew  it  from  the  rooms  in  wagons,  (which  were  fastened  to  them  by 
means  of  chains  around  their  naked  waists  !)  often  crawling  upon  hands 
and  knees,  over  the  rough  stony  floor,  where  the  coal  seam  was  so  thin 
as  to  have  left  but  a  small  space  between  roof  and  floor.  Dreadful ! — 
dreadful,  indeed  !  But  there  is  nothing  of  this  kind  in  our  day,  I  believe  ; 
so  you  needn't  look  as  if  you  would  like  to  get  out  of  here  as  soon  as 
possible,  you  girls. 

Well,  if  you  all  have  your  lamps  arranged,  we'll  be  off.  We  will  fol- 
low the  gangway,  some  distance,  first.  Here  comes  another  train,  the 
driver's  lamp,  and  that  of  the  leader,  shining  like  twin  stars  in  the  dark- 
ness. Away  ahead  yonder  are  the  lights  bobbing  about,  as  workmen 
move  from  place  to  place.  There  !  see  that  one  suddenly, — why,  there's 
another,  and  another,  and  another, — and  just  look  at  them  !  It  is  a  gang 
of  miners  coming  from  the  workings,  and  hid  from  us  by  the  wall  of  the 
gangway,  until  they  suddenly  appear,  coming  from  a  shute.  An  odd 
and  pretty  sight,  indeed  !  the  lamps  looking  like  so  many  stars.  As  they 
come  nearer,  however,  the  forms  of  the  men  will  begin  to  be  seen,  and 


48  DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 

the  illusion  of  stars  will  disappear.  I  suppose  our  party  presents  the 
same  appearance  to  them. 

We  will  turn  off,  here,  and  go  up  into  the  workings,  through  the 
shute  ;—  all  the  rooms  lying  off  from  the  gangway,  this  far  out,  have  been 
worked  out,  our  guide  tells  me.  These  shutes  are  used  as  manways,  as 
well  as  for  the  passage  of  coal.  Pretty  steep,  youngsters,  and  hard 
climbing,  but  I  think  we  can  make  it.  Ha  !  what's  this,  blocking  up  the 
way?  Oh,  yes, — brattice-cloth.  Brattice,  Miss  Inquisitive,— brattice-cloth. 
Eh  ?  You — b-r-a-t-t-i-c-e,— there,  now,  did  you  get  it?  Oh  !  that's  it,  eh? 
Laugh  away,  youngsters,  for  the  laugh  is  certainly  against  me  this  time. 
I  beg  your  pardon,  young  lady,  for  not  waiting  until  I  found  out  exactly 
what  you  were  going  to  ask.  Why,  it  is  thick,  heavy  material,  as  you 
see,  and  is  hung  across  openings  throughout  the  mine,  as  it  is  here,  to 
keep  the  fresh  air  current  up  in  the  breasts  where  the  miners  are.  If  the 
passages  were  all  open,  the  fresh  air  sent  down  from  above,  instead  of 
flowing  along  in  the  places  where  it  is  wanted,  and  where  it  must  be 
sent,  would  go  off  into  all  parts  of  the  mine.  All  through  the  mine  you 
will  meet  with  these  brattice-cloths,  in  some  places  ;  with  wooden  doors, 
in  others  ;  while  in  yet  other  places  you  will  find  that  former  openings, 
which  are  never  likely  to  be  needed  again,  are  closed  up  with  solid 
masonry.  To  more  fully  insure  the  proper  ventilation,  or  airing,  of  mines, 
the  law  requires  that  a  man  or  boy  be  stationed  at  each  important  door, 
whose  only  business  it  shall  be  to  open  the  doors,  as  necessity  requires — 
for  the  passage  for  cars,  etc. — and,  particularly,  Ariose  than  again, 
properly.  When  coal  is  to  slide  down  one  of  these  shutes,  to  the  gang- 
way, the  brattice  cloth  is  raised  at  the  bottom  just  enough  to  let  the  coal 
pass  under.  We  vviH  go  under  it,  too,  but;  in  the  opposite  direction,  and 
proceed. 

Here  we  are  in  the  heading — the  passage  from  which  the  rooms  all 
open.  As  these  breasts,  along  here,  are  all  carried  far  up  toward  the 
chain  pillar,  we  will  not  make  the  long  climb  necessary  to  get  into  t lie- 
breasts  where  the  work  of  mining  is  going  on,  but  will  see  that  work, 
after  awhile,  in  some  of  the  breasts  just  opened,  farther  out.  The  miners 
reach  their  working  place  by  going  up  this  passage,  between  the  pillar 
and  these  timbers, — the  manway,  it  is  called.  This  timbering — posts  and 
planks — you  will  find  on  both  sides  of  the  breast,  and  extending  through- 
out its  entire  length.  Sometimes  the  posts  stand  straight  up,  between 
floor  and  ceiling ;  but,  more  commonly,  they  are  placed  slanting,  like 
these,  the  upper  end  resting  against  the  pillar,  and  the  lower  end  on  the 
floor,  both  ends  held  in  holes  made  to  receive  them.  The  planks  are 
then  put  on,  making  the  manway,  as  you  see,  a  kind  of  three-cornered 
tunnel.  The  miners  have  to  drag  all  the  timbers  and  other  supplies, 
from  the  gangway  cars,  up  through  the  shutes  and  manways  to  where 
they  are  needed — not  very  easy  work,  on  such  a  very  steep-pitching 
seam  as  is  this.  The  timbers  are  put  in  as  the  work  of  mining  goes  for- 
ward, or  upward;  only  a  small  space  at  the  top  being  left  open  for  the 


DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 


49 


passage  of  the  miners,  and  for  other  purposes.  Aha  !  those  are  just  the 
questions  I've  been  looking  for, — why  is  the  timbering  placed  here  ?  and 
where 'is  the  loose  coal?  If  you  could  see  through  this  plank  partition, 
you  would  find  the  space  inside  full  of  loose  coal;  and  that  is  just  what 
these  partitions  are  built  for,  up  each  side  of  the  breast, — to  hold  the  coal, 
as  it  is  mined. 

You  see — but  let  me  draw  you  a  picture,  which  will  help  me  in  my  ex- 
planation. Stand  close  together  so  I  shall  have  enough  light  to  draw  the 


TO  THE  SLOPE)        GANGWAY 


CHAIN 


LA  ft 


BREAST  BEING  WORKED. 


picture,  and  you  enough  to  see  it.  Here  is  the  gangway,  which  we  have 
just  left  ;  here  are  the  shutes,  through  one  of  which  we  passed  in  coming 
from  the  gangway  ;  here  is  the  heading  ;  and  here  are  the  breasts  above 
it,  with  the  pillars  between,  and  the  stump,  here,  beside  us,  where  the 
timbering  begins.  Now,  we  will  make  the  partitions  up  each  side  of  the 


50  DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 

breasts.  The  round  spots  will  represent  these  heavy  posts,  to  which  the 
planks  are  made  fast.  I  can't  show  them,  in  this  picture,  as  leaning 
against  the  pillar  at  the  top,  but  we'll  understand  them  to  be  thus  placed, 
and  also  that  the  manways  here  at  the  side,— I'll  mark  them— which  ap- 
pear to  be  square  openings,  are  really  three-cornered  openings,  up  under 
the  slanting  partitions.  I  have  made  the  breasts  of  different  lengths,  you 
see,  as  corresponding  with  the  difference  in  the  times  of  their  being 
opened  up,  as  the  gangway  and  heading  were  driven  further.  But  we 
will  imagine,  however,  that  these  rooms  have  not  been  opened  up,  as 
here  shown,  at  all,  but  that  the  work  is  just  to  begin, — all  being  solid  coal 
above  the  heading  here.  In  opening  a  breast  the  miners  first  make  narrow 
openings,  on  each  side,  up  along  the  pillars, — exactly  across  the  heading 
from  the  shutes,  you  see — leaving  a  section  of  coal — the  stump,  here — 
stand,  for  a  short  distance;  then  they  open  the  breast  clean  across,  just 
above  the  stump,  keeping  it  that  way,  afterwards,  throughout  its  whole 
length.  In  some  mines,  another  plan  is  employed;  no  stumps  are  left, 
but  the  breasts  are  made  the  full  width  from  the  start,  at  the  heading. 
All  the  coal  taken  out  thus  far,  as  the  work  proceeds,  slides  down  the 
opening  between  the  pillar  and  stump,  across  the  heading,  and  on  down 
the  shute  to  the  gangway.  Once  the  breast  is  fairly  opened  out  above 
the  stump,  the  miners  must  begin  to  put  in  the  timbers  and  line  them 
with  plank,  so  that  they  will  hold  all  the  loose  coal  taken  out.  Why  ? 
Don't  you  see  why?  The  pitch  of  the  seam  is  so  steep  that  miners  are 
not  able  to  stand  on  the  floor  of  the  breast  while  they  peg  away  at  the 
hard  wall  of  coal,  in  front  of  and  above  them;  it  would  be  like  a  man 
trying  to  stand  on  a  very  steep  roof  while  he  should  work  away,  with 
heavy  tools,  at  something  fastened  to  the  roof  above  him ;  he  couldn't 
do  it,  of  course.  And  so  the  miners,  in  steep-pitching  seams  like  this 
one,  (and  some  are  even  much  steeper  than  this  very  steep  one,)  cannot 
work  without  something  to  stand  upon,  which  will  enable  them  to  keep 
up  to  the  wall  of  coal,  before  them.  So,  beginning  on  the  stumps,  they 
build  these  partitions,  as  they  go  ahead,  allowing  the  loose  coal  to  fill  up 
the  space,  behind  and  beneath  them,  from  which  the  coal  has  been 
taken.  But  they  make  more  loose  coal  than  they  need  under  them,  so 
they  may  pitch  that  not  needed  into  the  manways,  above  the  end  of  the 
partitions,  and  it  goes  rattling  and  bouncing  down  the  manway,  (under  the 
partition  you  know,)  and  on  through  the  shute,  to  the  gangway.  Or,  the 
loose  coal  filling  the  breast  may  be  kept  at  the  proper  height  to  suit  their 
work,  by  letting  a  part  of  it  out,  as  circumstances  require,  through  door- 
ways made  in  the  partition,  at  the  bottom,  just  at  the  stump.  This  ar- 
rangement of  the  partitons  thus  built  to  hold  the  loose  coal,  or  part  of  it, 
until  the  breast  is  completed,  is  called  a  battery. 

I'll  make  the  batteries,  in  our  picture,  full  of  loose  coal — there  ! — to 
show  you  how  the  breasts  look,  thus  filled.  Up  in  this  one,  on  the  top  of 
the  loose  coal,  I'll  make  a  miner  at  work,  as  we  would  find  them  if  we  were 
to  climb  up  these  steep  manways  to  where  they  are  now  working.  Down 


DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE.  51 

at  the  bottom  we  will  open  the  door  to  let  out  enough  coal  to  give  him 
more  room  to  work,  at  the  top  ;  here  it  goes,  down  the  shutes  to  these 
cars  which  I  have  made  standing  in  the  gangway.  This  first  breast,  we 
will  suppose,  is  completed,  the  coal  all  taken  out  up  to  the  chain  pillar. 
The  breast  now  is  full  of  the  loose  coal.  We  will  open  the  doorways  and 
let  it  all  run  out,  so  much  at  a  time,  down  the  shute  and  into  the  cars,  to 
be  taken  to  the  slope,  and  up  to  the  surface.  These  lines  across  the 
shutes  and  heading  represent  the  brattice -cloths  and  doorways,  which 
keep  the  air  current  on  the  right  road.  I  will  make  another  little  picture, 
now,  in  which  I  will  show  the  timbers  leaning  against  the  pillars, — there. 
Now,  these  three-cornered  white  spaces  are  the  manways  running  up 
under  the  timbers,  between  the  pillars  and  the  loose  coal  in  the  breasts. 
You  may  keep  these  pictures,  and  show  them  to  the  other  boys  and 
girls,  when  you  get  home. 

I  may  as  well  explain,  now,  how  the  air  currents  are  kept  up  to  where 
the  miners  are  at  work — and  I  can  use  my  picture,  in  explanation,  too. 
These  narrow  openings,  running  across  the  pillars,  from  breast  to  breast, 


PILLAR        BREAST. 

are  the  cross-headings,  pointed  out  in  last  night's  picture.  Cross- 
headings,  from  breast  to  breast,  are  frequently  opened,  you  notice;  but 
as  each  is  opened,  farther  up,  the  one  below  it  must  be  closed  by  doors 
or  masonry.  The  fresh  air  is  driven  through  the  air-way,  adjoining  the 
gangway,  to  the  farther  end  of  the  workings,  where  it  is  turned  up  into 
the  breasts.  These  partitions,  forming  the  battery,  are  made  air-tight  in 
planking  them  up,  so  that  the  air,  as  it  is  turned  into  a  breast,  must  fol- 
low up  along  the  manway,  around  above  the  ends  of  the  partitions  (which 
carries  it  across  the  breast  where  the  miners  are  working,— just  what  is 
wanted,)  down  the  other  manway  to  the  first  cross-heading  it  finds, 
through  this  to  the  next  breast,  and  then  up  the  manway  and  across  the 
breast,  at  the  top,  as  before,  and  so  on,  untils  it  gets  back  to  the  slope 
or  other  opening  through  which  it  passes  up  to  the  surface  again.  These 
arrows  will  show  its  course  through  headings,  along  manways  and  across 
the  breasts,  at  the  top,  where  the  work  is  going  on.  If  an  accident 
occurs,  through  the  falling  of  the  roof,  for  instance,  by  which  the  passage 
of  the  air  through  the  proper  course  is  checked,  thereby  cutting  off  the 
supply  from  the  breasts  beyond,  it  is,  by  properly  arranging  doors  and 


52  DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 

brattice-cloths,  made  to  pass  down  around  the  breast  or  breasts  in  which 
the  accident  may  have  occurred,  and  up  into  the  next  breast  and  then  on, 
as  usual. 

Let  us  move  on,  now,  along  the  heading,  and  see  what  is  being  done  at 
yonder  point,  where  the  lights  are.  Ah,  yes  ;  here  you  can  see  what  I 
have  been  showing  in  my  picture — the  running  of  the  loose  coal  out  of 
the  battery,  through  the  openings  at  the  stump.  A  considerable  loss  is 
occasioned  in  the  passage  of  the  coal  to  the  gangway  by  reason  of  the 
pounding  and  crushing  and  grinding  of  the  pieces,  which  makes  a  lot  of 
dust  and  very  fine  coal,  for  which  but  little  use  has  as  yet  been  dis- 
covered ;  so  it  is  thrown  upon  the  waste  dump,  those  odd-looking  black 
hills,  which  first  caught  Miss  Inquisitive's  eye.  All  the  gob,  too,  (the 
slate,  bony  coal,  etc.,  forming  the  partings  in  the  coal  seam,)  is  mixed  with 
the  coal,  where  the  pitch  is  so  great  as- to  necessitate  mining  by  this 
method.  If  there  were  enough  gob  in  the  seam  to  alone  fill  the  battery 
it  would  be  left  there,  the  good  coal  being  thrown  off  into  the  manway  as 


A  "FAULT." 

fast  as  broken  up,  and  sliding  down  it  to  the  shute — as  already  men- 
tioned. In  flat  workings,  buggy  or  wagon  breasts,  the  gob,  as  picked 
and  broken  loose  from  the  coal,  can  be  thrown  to  one  side,  and  be  left 
there,  as  we  have  seen,  the  coal  being  sent  out  as  fast  as  made  ready. 
But  here,  gob  and  all  must  be  sent  out,  as  there  is  no  way  to  separate 
them, — that  work  being  left  to  the  boys  and  men  in  the  breaker. 

Here  we  are,  now,  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  gangway,  which  is  still 
being  driven  further  ahead.  Sometimes  the  straight-ahead  order  of 
things,  in  the  way  of  working,  is  seriously  interfered  with,  or  even  stopped, 
by  the  changed  position  or  arrangement  of  the  strata — as  in  a  'fault'  or 
other  displacement  of  the  coal-bed.  In  the  case  of  a  fault,  the  miners  un- 
expectedly find  the  coal-bed  at  an  end,  and  in  front  of  them  a  wall  of 
some  kind  of  rock,  instead, — as  I  will  show  you  by  a  picture.  The 
strata,  you  see,  have  been  broken  squarely  off,  by  some  old-time  earth- 
quake, or  other  great  movement,  and  the  ends  have  slipped  upon  each 
other — one  up  or  the  other  down,  or  both — so  as  to  carry  the  strata  out 


DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE.  53 

of  their  regular  order  of  continuance,  and  "to  bring  the  ends  of  entirely 
different  strata  together.  In  such  cases,  the  forward  work  must  either 
be  stopped  entirely,  or  openings  be  made,  through  the  rocks,  until  the 
coal-bed  is  again  found,  when  work  may  again  go  forward. 

Sometimes,  too,  a  slate  or  other  parting  in  a  'coal  bed  may  increase 
from  a  few  inches  to  several  feet  in  thickness,  dividing  the  bed  into  two 
more  or  less  widely  separated  parts,  or  benches,  each  thick  enough  to  be 
worked  alone.  In  such  a  case,  the  owners  of  the  mine  would  prefer  to 
have  the  parting  separate  the  two  benches  by  a  considerable  distance, 
40  or  50  feet,  as  then  each  bench  could  be  mined  separately  ;  whereas,  if 
they  are  not  separated  by  more  than  a  few  feet,  this  cannot  be  done,  and 
all  the  rock  found  between  the  two  benches,  must  necessarily  be  taken 
out,  too.  Again,  the  coal  may  gradually  grow  thinner,  from  the  top 
downward,  and  come  to  end,  not  by  reason  of  a  fault,  but  because  the 
beds  of  vegetation  which  formed  the  coal,  after  once  having  been  de- 
posited, were  swept  away  by  strong  currents  or  waves.  It  is  thus  some- 
times missing,  (other  strata  taking  its  place,)  over  a  greater  or  less  area. 
Then  there  are  the  'squeezes,'  which,  occurring  before  the  beds  of  vege- 
tation became  hardened  into  the  solid  coal,  brought  the  rock  strata 
above  and  below  the  coal  close  together,  squeezing  the  coal  out  at  these 
points,  entirely  or  partially,  and  causing  it  to  swell  or  bulge,  at  other 
points,  to  two  or  three  times  its  usual  thickness.  These  thick  and  thin 
places  are  often  met  with  in  mining.  All  these  variations  in  the  position 
and  condition  of  the  strata,  affect  the  work  of  mining,  as  you  can  see. 
Sometimes,  too,  the  coal  at  points  in  the  seam  will  be  found  all  crushed 
and  ground  up,  and  looking  like  so  much  black  sand.  This  has  been 
caused  by  some  great  movement  of  all  the  strata,  the  coal  being  at  some 
points  thus  reduced  to  this  fine  condition  by  reason  of  the  tremendous 
crushing  and  grinding  force  of  the  movement. 

Let  us  go  up  into  one  of  these  breasts  but  recently  opened  up,  and  see 
what  it  looks  like.  We  must  go  up  the  manway  and  get  into  the  breast 
above  the  end  of  the  partition.  Give  me  your  hand,  Bess  ;  now,  up  we 
go! — and  here  we  are.  It  is  in  these  places  that  the  regular  mining  is 
done,  day  after  day,  until  the  limit  of  the  breasts  is  reached,  in  each 
case  ;  new  ones  being  opened  up  as  the  old  ones  are  completed.  Drilling 
and  blasting, — drilling  and  blasting, — with  what  picking  is  necessary  to 
pull  down  the  loosened  coal,  and  to  break  off  the  pieces  of  slate,  etc., — it 
is  thus  the  work  goes  on.  In  very  many  mines,  or  parts  of  mines,  it  is 
not  necessary  that  blasting  be  constantly  kept  up  throughout  the  whole 
length  of  the  breast,  in  order  to  loosen  the  coal  and  take  it  from  the 
beds  ;  but  the  coal,  once  the  breast  is  opened  up,  and  the  loosening 
fairly  begun,  continues  to  'run,'  as  it  is  called,  of  itself,  breaking  loose 
frgm  the  seam,  without  blasting  or  other  work,  and  continuing  this,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  throughout  the  length  of  the  breast.  Where  the 
coal  is  very  free- '  running '  precautions  must  be  taken  to  prevent  the 
'  running '  process  from  extending  into.and  destroying  the  pillars  between 


54 


DOWN  IN  A  COAL  MINE. 


the  rooms,  and  the  chain  pillar,  above, — which  would  probably  lead  to 
such  a  general  falling  in  of  the  roof,  or  other  movements  of  the  overlying 
strata,  as  would  destroy  all  the  workings. 

Let  us  make  another  picture,  a  side-view  along  the  seam,  to  take 
away  with  us,  with  these  other  two,  to  show  how  mining  is  done  on  a 
steep  pitch,  like  this.  Here  is  the  gangway, — this  wide  opening  down 
here;  and  up  here  is  the  heading.  Here  we  will  have  the  shute,  be- 
tween the  two,  with  the  raised  platform  at  the  bottom  (to  carry  the  coal 
over  the  side  of  the  mine  car,  you  know)  and  with  the  timbering,  look- 
ing like  a  fence,  along  the  side — only  I  have  made  it  too  high,  by  half,  I 
see,  to  be  right.  Now,  up  above  the  heading  here,  is  the  breast,  which 
we  will  make  full  of  loose  coal.  On  top  is  a  miner,  pulling  down 
the  coal  which  he  has  loosened  by  a  blast.  Suppose,  too,  we  represent 
the  door  at  the  bottom  of  the  breast,  or  battery,  as  being  open,  with  the 
coal  running  out  and  sliding  down  the  shute  into  a  car,  which  we  will 

show  standing  in  the  gangway.      There ! 
we  have  our  picture  finished. 

When  all  the  breasts  are  completed 
^^A     throughout  the  whole  length  of  the 
^k    lift,   and  the  workings  are  to  be 
^     abandoned,  the  work  of  '  robbing 
out'   the    pillars  is    begun,  as 
k    they  will  no  longer  be  needed, 
Ik     and  the  coal  in  them  may  as 
HV^    well  be  saved.     The  work 
Qk    is  begun  back  at  this  end, 
uul  carried  toward  the 
slope,  the  whole  of  the 

dangerous  work,     V         IJM  A    P^ar,  or  as  much  of 

owing  to  the   fall-    ^SfgllNi  Hk    h  as  k  is  Possible  to 

ing  in  of  the   roof,    ^H8»V^  ^^  secure.,  being  taken 

as  the  pillars   which        V&A^M  BC^>\    <)llt-     This  is  very 

hold  it  up  are  removed. 
At  the  best,  very  much 
coal  is  lost,  at  every  colli- 
ery.     Much  is  left  in  the 
mines,  untouched,  for  vari- 
ous reasons,  and  much  is  so 
ground  and  crushed  in  mining 
it,  and  in  preparing  it  for  mar- 
ket, in  the  breaker,  as  to  render  it 
unsalable,  for  the  most  part.      At 
many  collieries  not  more  than  half 
the  coal  is  saved— if  even  that  much. 
The  miners  are  paid  either  so  much  per 
car  for  the  coal  taken  out,  or  at  a  certain 


m 


MINING  ON  A  STEEP  PITCH. 


MJNE  ACCIDENTS  :— EXPLOSIONS  AND  FIRES.  55 

rate  for  the  distance  mined;  either  method  of  payment  being  employed 
as  the  circumstances  require. 

Let  us,  now,  go  down  this  shute  to  the  gangway,  and  go  back  to 
the  slope — a  down-hill  walk,  all  the  way,  I  may  say,  for  the  benefit  of 
you  tired  girls.  Oh,  no!  the  gangway  is  not  perfectly  level,  but  falls 
(though  but  very  slightly — i  foot  in,  say,  150  feet,  only)  as  we  go  toward 
the  slope ;  this  is  to  make  it  easier  to  pull  the  loaded  cars  to  the  slope, 
and  also  to  cause  the  water  to  flow,  readily,  in  the  ditch,  at  the  side.  The 
water  (and  it  is  found  in  perhaps  all  mines, )  is  collected  in  what  is  called  the 
'sump,'  at  the  foot  of  the  slope,  or  shaft,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  be  pumped 
to  the  surface,  by  big  steam  pumps. 

Well,  here  we  are  at  the  slope,  again.  Let  us  now  go  farther  down — 
where  the  seam  is  nearly  flat,  and  buggies  are  used,  I  am  told,  by  our 
guide.  Don't  want  to  go  down  ?  Well,  you  must  be  pretty  tired,  as  we 
have  had  a  long  tramp,  winding  in  and  out,  as  we  have  done, — and  a  hard 
tramp,  too.  So,  if  you  think  you  understand,  from  last  night's  explana- 
tion, how  mining  is  done  in  flat  seams,  as  we  would  find  below,  we  will 
not  go  down.  We  will  sit  here  a  little  while,  resting,  before  goin  the 
surface  again,  and  watch  the  trains  coming  and  going,  with  the  funny 
mule  teams  in  front.  We  can  watch,  too,  the  loading  and  unloading  of 
the  cars  at  the  slope,  as  the  full  ones  are  sent  up,  and  the  empty  ones  are 
brought  down." 


XIII. 

MINE  ACCIDENTS:— EXPLOSIONS  AND  FIRES. 


'  'That  man,  over  there,  directing  the  moving  of  those  cars,  is  the 
'mine-boss, '  who  has  general  charge  of  the  mining  operations.  He  has 
his  assistants,  or  other  '  bosses,  '  having  each  his  especial  duties  ;  as  the 
'  stable-boss  '  and  '  fire-boss. '  The  fire-boss  ?  Why,  his  duty  is  to  keep  a 
careful  watch  throughout  the  mine,  to  prevent  accidents  which  might 
otherwise  occur,  through  the  firing  of  gases  which  collect  in  parts  of  the 
mine.  It  is  his  duty  to  inspect  every  part  of  the  mine,  and  to  take  prompt 
measures  to  clesr  the  workings  of  large  and  dangerous  accumulations  of 
the  '  fire-damp,  '  as  the  explosive  gas  is  called,  and  to  put  out,  or  confine 
to  a  particular  quarter,  at  least,  any  fire  which  may  occur.  Did  you  see 
that  black  board  with  the  figures  and  white  crosses  on  it,  as  you  came  in, 
this  morning  ?  That  is  the  fire-board,  as  it  is  called.  The  fire-boss  must 
examine  every  breast  before  the  men  come  to  work,  to  see  if  there  is  any 
fire-damp  present.  He  makes  notes  of  the  search,  and  then  prepares  the 
fire-board,  accordingly.  He  places  on  the  fire-board  the  number  of  each 
breast,  (they  are  all  numbered,  I  should  have  told  you  before,  and  the 


56  MINE  ACCIDENTS:— EXPLOSIONS  AND  FIRES. 

miners  are  spoken  of  by  their  numbers,  very  often,  instead  of  by  their 
names,) — he  places  on  the  board  the  number  of  each  breast  in  which  he 
has  found  fire-damp,  and  places  opposite  the  number  one  or  more  crosses 
indicating  the  quantity  of  fire-damp  present.  Each  miner  goes  to  the  fire- 
board,  when  he  comes  to  work,  and  there  learns  whether  or  not  any  fire- 
damp is  in  his  breast,  and  if  there  is,  how  much.  One  cross  means  that 
there  is  a  little  present,  and  he  must  drive  it  out  before  going  to  work  ; 
two  crosses  mean  that  there  is  a  considerable  quantity  present,  and  that 
extra  precaution  must  be  exercised  ;  while  three 
crosses  mean  that  there  is  a  dangerously  large 
quantity  present,  and  the  miner  must  not  enter 
his  room,  until  given  permission  to  do  so  by  the 
fire-boss.  Of  course,  if  a  miner's  number  is  not 
on  the  fire-board,  he  understands  that  his  breast 
is  free  from  the  dreaded  fire-damp. 

Frightful  explosions  sometimes  occur,  by 
which  many  lives  are  lost.  The  force  of  the 
explosion  is  very  great,  carrying  everything 
before  it,  throwing  the  men  flat  upon  the  floor, 
and  hurling  them  about,  with  mules,  cars  and 
timbers,  also,  as  the  terrific  rush  of  air  sweeps 
through  the  gangways  and  other  \  >assa^es.  Fre- 
quently, too,  the  mine  takes  fire  from  the  burn- 
ing fire-damp,  and  a  large  part  of  the  workings 
may  be  destroyed  before  the  fire  can  be  checked. 
Fires  often  occur  in  piles  of  gob,  and  from 
the  gob  may  reach  the  coal.  The  loose  coal,  in 
breasts,  and  elsewhere,  is  often  destroyed  in 
mine  fires,  but  the  solid  seam  of  coal,  itself,  may 
not  be  much  injured,  as  it  is  too  compact  to  burn 
freely.  A  fire  cannot  make  much  headway  where 
it  has  only  the  solid  coal  before  it — no  gob,  loose 
coal  or  timbers.  The  smaller  fires  may  be  put 
out  by  the  use  of  water,  or,  when  in  a  pile  of  gob 
or  loose  coal,  by  removing  all  that  is  not  already 
burning,  out  of  the  reach  of  the  fire.  When 
these  methods  do  not  avail  to  put  out  the  fire, 
it  may  be  confined  to  a  certain  quarter,  and 
smothered,  by  closing  up  all  openings  leading  to  it,  thus  cutting  off  the 
air  ;  for  fire,  you  should  know,  cannot  long  continue  without  fresh  sup- 
plies of  air. 

The  fires  following  a  great  explosion  are  the  most  to  be  dreaded, 
and  sometimes  the  whole  colliery,  including  the  shaft  or  slope,  and  even 
the  buildings  at  the  top,  are  destroyed, — though  the  shaft  or  slope,  with 
buildings,  may  be  thus  destroyed,  too,  by  fires  starting  in  the  stables  or 
blacksmith  shop.  By  the  explosion  of  fire-damp  another,  and  very 


FIRE  BOARD. 


MINE  ACCIDENTS:— EXPLOSIONS  AND  FIRES.  57 

poisonous  gas,  called  the  '  white-damp,'  or c  after-damp,'  is  produced,  and 
renders  an  attempt  to  enter  the  workings  a  very  dangerous  undertaking. 
'  Black-damp, '  or  '  choke-damp, '  is  another  gas  to  be  feared.  When  a 
fire  in  a  mine  is  too  large  to  be  extinguished  by  the  ordinary  methods, 
and  the  whole  mine  is  threatened,  other  methods  are  employed  in  the 
hope  of  checking  it.  The  mine  is  '  sealed  ' — that  is,  all  openings  into  it 
are  closed  up  with  masonry;  and  then  steam  is  poured  into  the  mine 
through  pipes  from  the  boilers.  When  all  other  plans  fail,  'flooding '  is 
resorted  to  ;  in  other  words,  the  mine  is  filled  with  water.  Flooding  is 
only  resorted  to  when  all  other  plans  fail,  as  I  have  said,  because  it  is  a 
very  costly  operation  of  itself,  while  the  damage  to  the  mine  by  the 
water,  is  also  very  great.  The  flooding  of  mines,  not  counting  the  damage 
to  the  mine,  has  cost  as  much  as  $150,000  !  And  then,  too,  after  the  fire 
may  be  put  out,  all  the  water  poured  into  the  mine — a  vast  quantity,  of 
course — must  be  pumped  out  again  ;  and  by  the  time  this  is  done,  and  all 
the  damages  to  the  mine  repaired,  many  months  have  been  lost  and  vast 
sums  of  money  spent. 

So,  you  see,  the  fire-boss  has  a  great  responsibility  resting  upon  him, 
as,  indeed,  has  every  man  working  in  the  mine  ;  a  little  carelessness  may 
cause  a  very  great  loss.  These  little  lamps  of  ours  are  the  ones  gen- 
erally used  in  the  mines,  and  you  can  see  how  easily  the  gas  could  be 
fired,  by  a  miner  carelessly  going  into  a  part  of  the  mine  containing  it  in 
considerable  quantities.  Old  and  abandoned  workings  are  often  full  of 
the  gas  ;  and  to  avoid  accidents,  the  openings  into  these  places  have  been 
tightly  closed.  The  proper  circulation  of  the  air-current  through  the 
mines,  prevents,  to  a  large  extent,  the  collection  of  the  gas  in  the  work- 
ings in  which  mining  is  in  progress.  There  are  lamps  made  with  a  fine 
wire-gauze  covering  the  flame,  to  prevent  the  gas  from  coming  in  contact 
with  it.  Such  lamps  are  called  '  safety-lamps, '  but,  I  understand,  they  are 
not  reliable  safe-guards, — the  miners,  and  the  mine-owners  preferring  the 
ordinary  lamps. 

Other  mine  accidents  occur,  too.  There  are  mine-car  accidents 
of  various  kinds  ;  powder  explosions  ;  accidental  explosions  in  blasting, 
before  ready  ;  roof-falls  ;  '  crushes  ' ;  and  other  lesser  accidents  of  many 
kinds.  A  '  crush '  is  a  serious  affair,  and  is  always  guarded  against, 
but  sometimes  not  sufficiently.  It  occurs  when  there  is  not  sufficient 
support  to  the  rock  strata,  above,  in  the  way  of  heavy  chain  pillars, 
and  other  pillars.  It  is  not  a  simple  falling  of  the  roof  where  the  sup- 
port is  not  good,  but  it  is. a  sliding  out  of  its  place  of  all  the  rock 
strata  above  the  coal,  crushing  the  pillars  and  everything  else  by  the  enor- 
mous weight  and  pressure,  and  ruining,  beyond  hope  of  repair,  the  whole 
mine,  or  a  large  part  of  it. 

Some  of  the  mine  accidents  are  attended  with  unpleasant  conse- 
quences to  outsiders,  too,  occasionally.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  in  the 
papers  an  account  of  the  sinking  of  a  considerable  area  of  land,  overlying 
a  coal  mine, — parts  of  mining  towns  often  being  included.  The  surface 


58  A  COAL  BREAKER. 

may  sink  several  feet,  in  some  instances,  the  people  flying  from  their 
homes  in  fear  that  the  houses  may  be  thrown  down.  Usually  these  sink- 
ings occur  over  old  workings  from  which  the  pillars  have  been  '  robbed.' 

Taking  it  altogether,  the  life  of  a  miner  is  not  one  to  be  envied.  His 
work  is  hard,  and  the  pay  for  it  does  not  seem  to  be  always  satisfactory, 
if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  numerous  strikes  occurring  in  the  coal  regions. 
He  is  surrounded  by  dangers — there  are  dangers  on  every  hand.  We 
should  hold  in  thoughtful  remembrance,  as  we  sit  at  our  ease  by  our 
comfortable  fires,  the  hard-working,  danger-daring  men,  whose  labor 
makes  such  enjoyment  possible  to  us. 

Now,  if  you  are  quite  rested,  we  will  go  up  the  slope,  again,  and  pay 
a  visit  to  the  breaker  and  the  rock  and  dirt  dumps  ;— it  is  coming,  at  last, 
Miss  Inquisitive." 


XIV. 
A  COAL  BREAKER. 


"Back  to  daylight,  again  !  and  how  good  it  seems.  What  a  contrast 
to  the  gloomy  place  we  left,  a  moment  ago.  I  don't  believe  any  of  you 
would  enjoy  living  in  a  coalmine;  eh  ? 

Well,  as  it  is  growing  late,  we  must  go  over  to  the  breaker,  without 
delay,  and  after  looking  through  it,  we  will  go  out  upon  the  dumps,  and 
then  trudge  home,  again.  We  will  follow  this  car,  and  see  what  becomes 
of  the  coal  it  contains. 

Now,  watch  the  car,  as  it  reaches  the  end  of  the  track.  Tip  !  over 
she  goes,  almost  upon  end, — the  front  end  down.  Out  goes  the  coal  in  a 
jiffy, — down  upon  this  sloping  iron  grating,  which  lets  the  smaller  pieces 
fall  through,  as  it  all  slides  along,  while  the  large  lumps  go  on  down.  We 
needn't  try  to  follow  this  particular  car-full  any  further,  you  see,  as  it 
has  already  been  divided,  and  been  mixed  with  other  car-loads  which  were 
just  ahead  of  it. 

These  immense  buildings,  called  breakers,  (for  a  reason  which  you 
will  shortly  learn,)  are  erected  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  in  them, 
properly,  the  work  of  preparing  the  coal  for  sale — for  market,  we  usually 
say.  As  it  comes  from  the  mines,  it  is,  as  you  have  already  seen,  quite 
unfit  for  use,  being  full  of  slate,  etc.,  and  at  some  mines  very  wet  and  dirty 
looking  ;  besides,  pieces  of  all  sizes  are  mixed  together,  many  lumps  be- 
ing entirely  too  large  for  general  use.  In  the  breaker,  all  these  matters 
are  set  straight,  the  slate,  and  other  impurities  are  removed,  the  wet  and 
dirty  coal  (where  it  is  so),  is  washed,  the  big  lumps  are  broken  up — Yes, 
Miss  Inquisitive,  you've  guessed  it;  that  is  why  it  is  called  a  breaker. 


A  COAL  BREAKER. 


59 


60  A  COAL  BREAKER. 

The  big  lumps  are  broken  up,  as  I  was  saying,  and  the  coal  is  finally  so 
assorted  as  to  bring  all  pieces  of  the  same  size  together. 

I  do  not  know  how  high  this  breaker  is,  but  some  of  them  are  as 
much  as  115  feet  in  height.  Few  are  less  than  80  feet  high.  They  cost, 
with  the  necessary  machinery  for  properly  carrying  on  the  work  of  clean- 
ing and  separating  the  coal,  a  very  large  amount  of  money — more  or  less 
of  course,  in  proportion  to  their  size,  and  the  amount  of  machinery  in 
use.  The  smaller  ones  cost  $25,000  ;  larger  ones,  $50,000  to  $80,000  ; 
while  the  immense  structures  at  the  largest  collieries,  cost  as  much  as 
$100,000!  Some  of  these  large  breakers  can  prepare  2,000  tons  per  day, 
'though  perhaps  never  actually  doing  so,  as  yet. 

What  a  rattle  and  clatter  is  being  made,  inside,  there  ;  let's  go  in  and 
see  what  is  going  on.  Whew  !  the  coal  dust,  it's  nearly  as  dark  in  here, 
because  of  it,  as  it  is  down  in  the  mine,  even  if  the  breaker  is  nearly  all 
windows.  Some  breakers  are,  indeed,  veritable  'glass  houses, '  but  the 
people  who  live  in  them  (during  working  hours)  do  not  seem  to  regard 
the  advice  addressed  to  people  occupying  such  houses,  namely,  that  tin -y 
'  should  not  throw  stones  ;'  indeed,  hundreds  of  them,  you  will  find,  spend 
the  whole  day  in  doing  nothing  else  but  throwing  stones — or,  at  least, 
pitching  them.  What  do  I  mean?  Just  follow  me,  and  I'll  show  you. 

Here,  now,  are  the  'slate-pickers, — the  people  who,  as  I  said,  throw 
stones  all  day  long.  Here,  you  see,  is  the  coal — the  larger  pieces— as  it 
conies  from  the  mine  cars.  This  long  iron  trough  into  which  the  coal 
slides  from  the  iron  bars  which  separated  it,  is  called  a  shute.  It  carries 
the  large  pieces  of  coal  to  this  platform,  you  see,  where  it  is  looked  over 
and  assorted  by  these  'platform  men,'  as  they  are  called.  They  pick  out 
the  slate  and  rock,  and  throw  them  into  this  hole,  which  is  the  mouth 
of  a  shute  carrying  the  slate,  etc.,  to  cars,  to  be  taken  to  the  rock-dump. 
As  no  slate  is  to  be  allowed  to  go  into  the  coal,  as  pn  pand  for  sale, 
these  men  must  examine  every  lump,  and  any  slate  found  in  any  of  them, 
must  be  taken  out  by  the~use  of  pick  or  sledge.  Good,  smooth  lumps,  ot 
the  proper  size,  are  thrown  into  this  opening — the  'lump  shute' — to  go 
to  the  railroad  cars  for  shipment — this  size  being  called  'lump.  *  Rough 
lumps  go  down  this  opening,  as  you  notice,  being  carried  to  the  'crushers;' 
while  all  the  small  and  fine  bits  go  down  here.  So  you  see,  now,  these 
men,  as  are  others  in  other  parts  of  the  building,  are  kept  busy  throwing 
stones,  as  it  were,  all  day  long.  Now,  let  us  go  below  the  platform,  to 
the  crushers. 

If  the  crushers  were  not  in  motion  you  would  see  that  these  iron  or 
steel  cylinders,  or 'rolls,' have  strong  points — 'teeth,' they  are  called — 
sticking  out,  all  over  them,  and  which  break  the  lumps  as  they  fall  into 
the  crusher.  These  large  crushers  or  rolls  are  also  called  'steamboat 
rolls,'— 'steamboat'  being  the  name  of  the  size  of  coal  next  to  'lump,'  in 
selling  ;  it  is,  however,  a  size  not  made  at  all  at  many  breakers.  Where 
made,  as  at  this  one,  the  steamboat  coal  goes  to  the  cars,  through  the 
shute,  here,  without  further  preparation.  These  rolls  over  here,  are 


A  COAL  BREAKER.  61 

the  'prepared-coal  rolls.'  They  are  smaller  than  the  steamboat  rolls,  and 
are  used  in  prepai  ing  smaller  sizes  of  coal  commonly  used.  The  smallest 
rolls  are  called  the  'pony  rolls'  or  'monkey  rolls.'  How  the  lumps  disap- 
pear before  those  strong  teeth!  reappearing,  over  here,  in  many  pieces. 
What  an  appetite  for  coal  these  rolls  seem  to  have,  greedily  eating  up  all 
that  comes  into  their  mouths  and,  like  Oliver  Twist,  always  asking  for 
more  !  Let  us  next  go  and  see  how  the  pieces  are  separated,  so  as  to 
get  all  the  pieces  of  any  one  size  away  from  the]  rest  and  into  a  heap  by 
themselves, — which  is  done  by  'screening.' 

Here,  now,  are  the  'screens,' — those  great,  long  cylinders,  covered 
with  holes,  and  turning  round  and  round.  Oh  !  oh,  they  are  hung  length- 
wise, this  way,  or,  flat,  as  you  call  it,  (turning  on  that  iron  shaft,  which 
runs  through  their  whole  length,)  because  they  could  not  do  their  work  if 
standing  on  end.  One  end,  you  "notice,  is  a  little  lower  than  the  other, 
which  causes  the  coal  to  slide  slowly  along,  as  the  screens  turn  round 
and  round.  In  this  first  screen,  up  here,  the  holes  at  the  upper  end  are 
very  small ;  those  nearer  the  middle,  a  little  longer ;  and  those  at  the 
lower  end,  still  larger.  The  next  screen  has  three  or  four  sizes  of  holes, 
too,  all  being  larger  than  those  in  the  upper  one.  All  the  screens  are 
thus  made.  Only  the  dust  and  very  fine  particles  go  through  these 
small  holes  or  meshes  here,  you  see,  the  rest  sliding  over  them  to  the  next 
size,  where  slightly  larger  bits  fall  through,  and  the  .rest  again  going  on, 
as  before,  to  the  lower  part  of  the  screen,  where  the  next  size  falls 
through,  while  all  the  larger  pieces  run  out  the  open  end  and  through 
that  shute,  into  the  next  screen.  Here  the  same  operation  is  repeated, 
each  size  falling  through  as  it  finds  holes  large  enough,  until  all  has  been 
separated.  You  see  the  different  sizes  dropping  out, — each  at  its  place, 
all  along.  All  these  screens  separate  the  coal  in  the  same  way.  The 
sizes  here  made,  cover  all  those  in  general  use,  the  smallest  being  'buck- 
wheat,' (not  separated  at  some  breakers,  but  going  with  the  dust  to  the 
dump,  as  slack  ;)  the  next,  'pea  ;'  then  'chestnut;'  'small  stove  ;'  'stove,' 
and  'egg. '  It  is  to  supply  the  demand  for  these  various  sizes,  smaller 
sizes  that  the  lunips  are  broken  up,  as  we  have  just  seen,  by  the  rolls. 
Here  we  meet  again  with  the  smaller  pieces  of  coal  which  we  lost  sight  of, 
you  recollect,  as  it  fell  through  the  bars,  when  dumped  out  of  the  mine 
cars  ;  all  that  smaller  coal,  and  there  is  much  of  it,  goes  through  these 
screens,  to  be  separated. 

But  the  pieces  of  slate  must  yet  be  taken  out  of  the  coal  that  has  just 
been  screened,  as  it  has  not  yet  passed  through  the  hands  of  pickers,— as 
has  the  large  coal,  at  the  platform.  The  slate  is  removed  by  hand-pick- 
ing or  by  running  the  coal  through  the  'jigging'  machines, — over  yonder. 
These  machines  have  water  inside,  and  as  the  coal  goes  in  through  the 
hoppers,  the  dirt,  slate  and  other  impurities  nearly  all  go  to  the  bottom, 
and  are  carried  off,  while  the  clean  coal  runs  out  into  the  shutes, — around 
here.  Each  size  goes  through  a  separate  machine,  of  course.  Some 
pieces  of  slate  may  slip  through  with  the  coal,  but  this  man,  here,  removes 


62  A  COAL  BREAKER. 

all  such  intruders  as  they  appear,  and  the  clean  coal  runs  down  the 
shutes,  into  great  bins,  or  'pockets,'  each  size  into  its  own  pocket.  If 
not  thus  'jigged,'  the  coal,  as  it  comes  from  the  screens,  is  run  through 
long  shutes,  called  'telegraph  shutes,'  lined  with  old  men  and  boys, 
who  pick  out  the  slate  as  the  whole  slides  along  ; — here  they  are,  you  see, 
some  sitting  astride  the  shutes.  Sometimes,  the  picking  is  not  done  in 
the  shutes,  but  on  tables  upon  which  the  coal  runs  ;  in  either  case,  the 
coal,  when  picked  over,  runs  down  to  the  proper  pockets.  Let  us  go 
down  to  the  pockets. 

Here  they  are, — great  bins,  into  which  the  coal  from  above  is  con- 
stantly rattling,  coming  down  through  the  shutes.  Around  on  the  other 
side  of  these  pockets  are  the  railroad  tracks.  They  are  lower  than  the 
bottom  of  the  pockets  ;  and  the  coal  pours  into  the  queer,  hopper-bot- 
tomed railroad  coal-cars  from  the  pockets,  over  a  broad  shute, — or 
'  apron,  *  it  is  called,  in  this  case.  But  let  us  go  around  and  see  the  load- 
ing in  progress.  Here  we  are  ;  now,  you  can  see  how  it  is  done.  This, 
of  course,  is  where  the  work  of  shipping  the  coal  is  carried  on.  The 
breaker  is  always  so  located  that  tracks  can  be  easily  run  into  the  lower 
side,  from  the  nearest  railroad.  As  fast  as  filled,  you  see,  the  cars  are 
moved  on  a  little,  or  run  out,  and  others  take  their  places.  The  weights 
are  taken  ;  a  card,  showing  where  and  to  whom  the  coal  is  to  go,  is 
tacked  to  the  side  of  each  car  ;  a  number  of  the  cars  are  made  up  into  a 
long  train  ;  and  off  they  go, — some  to  owners  of  factories,  and  some  to 
coal-dealers,  in  distant  cities  and  towns. 

The  breaking  of  the  coal,  while  necessary,  in  order  to  reduce  it 
to  the  sizes  most  in  demand,  is  a  very  wasteful  operation,  much  of  the 
coal  being  crushed  into  fine  particles,  which  go  to  the  slack  dump.  Let 
us  leave  this  busy,  noisy,  dusty  place,  and  go  out  to  the  dumps. 

*  Regular  mountains,  '  you  think  ;  yet  there  are  dumps,  in  other 
places,  which  are  much  larger  than  these,  covering  many  acres,  and 
being  of  great  height.  Indeed,  it  is  a  serious  question,  what  to  do  with  all 
the  waste  material  from  the  mines,  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the  material 
taken  from  the  mines,  being  refuse,  I  have  seen  it  stated.  Formerly,  all 
refuse — slate,  dirt  and  the  fine  coal,  or  slack, — was  thrown  in  one  heap  ; 
but  it  is  common  practice  now  to  keep  the  slack  in  a  separate  heap. 
This  is  now  done  because  it  is  not  unlikely  that  some  ready  method  ot 
using  the  slack  may  be  discovered,  so  that  it  may  all  be  sold,  at  a  fair 
price,  perhaps,  instead  of  lying,  unused,  in  these  heaps.  The  sale  of  the 
slack,  at  a  fair  price,  would  add  largely  to  the  cash  receipts  of  the  coal 
companies,  as  immense  quantities  of  slack  are  being  heaped  up  at  every 
large  colliery.  Some  methods  of  using  the  slack,  in  connection  with 
bituminous  slack  and  tar,  have  been  successfully  employed,  the  mixture 
being  pressed  into  rounded  pieces  of  any  size  desired.  This  compound 
makes  a  very  good  fuel,  but  it  has  not  yet  come  into  general  use.  The 
distance  from  which  the  bituminous  slack  must  be  brought,  adds  largely 
to  the  cost  of  manufacturing  this  compound  fuel ;  a  mechod  wmch  would 


ON  THE  MONONGAHELA.  63 

avoid  this  would  be  very  acceptable  to  the  coal-operators,  you  may  be 
sure.  Some  forms  of  furnaces,  for  burning  it  in  locomotives,  are  in  suc- 
cessful use.  It  will  be  a  long  time,  however,  before  the  now  waste  slack 
of  the  anthracite  region  is  all  utilized. 

What  a  fine  view  we  get,  from  here,  over  the  town  !  Quite  a  num- 
ber of  collieries  are  in  view,  too, — all  at  work,  sending  out  the  '  black 
diamonds,  '  to  make  cheerful  thousands  upon  thousands  of  homes,  and 
to  keep  fires  roaring  in  blast  furnaces  and  iron  mills,  and  the  wheels  and 
spindles  flying  in  factories.  What  a  vast  army  of  men,  and  women,  and 
children,  too,  are  dependent  for  their  employment — their  daily  bread  and 
home  comforts,  in  effect — upon  the  hard,  black  substance  coming  from 
these  mines  !  What  a  wise  provision  has  been  made  for  us,  in  the  storing 
up,  in  the  form  of  coal,  of  the  sunshine  of  other  ages  ! 

The  anthracite  region  is  a  busy  part  of  our  country.  The  mining  in- 
dustry gives  employment  to  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men  and  boys, 
and  has  caused  to]  spring  up  a  large  number  of  cities  and  towns.  We 
have  here  seen  but  a  small  part  of  the  region,  but  we  cannot  extend  our 
visit  to  other  parts  of  it,  unfortunately.  As  we  have  now  seen  all  the 
operations  connected  with  mining  in  the  anthracite  region,  and  as  our 
holiday  time  is  limited,  we  cannot  stay  here,  longer,  or  go  to  other  parts 
of  the  region;  but  we  will  be  off  to  the  bituminous  coal-region,  in  the 
morning. 

Now,  for  a  lively  scramble  down  the  side  of  this  mountain  of  slack, 
and  then  homeward. " 


xv. 

ON  THE  MONONGAHELA— TOW-BOATS  AND 
COAL-BOATS. 


"  Isn't  this  a  great  way  to  visit  coal  mines — on  a  steamboat?  Seems 
funny,  to  be  sure  ;  and  yet,  no  better  plan  could  be  followed,  to  enable 
one  to  secure  a  good  general  idea  of  the  Monongahela  Valley  coal  mining 
and  shipping  operations.  One  must  needs  go  to  the  Pennsylvania 
region  to  see  anthracite  mining  operations,  as  extensively  carried  on  ; 
but  we  might  have  gone  to  other  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  or  into  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  or  any  one  of  a  number  of  other  States,  to  see  bitum- 
inous coal  mines.  I  have  brought  you  here,  however,  to  the  Mononga- 
hela Valley,  because  I  wanted  you  to  see  what  you  can  see  nowhere 
else,  so  well,  the  method  of  shipping  coal  by  river,  instead  of  by  rail,  as 
it  must  be  shipped  from  other  fields.  That  you  will  be  pleased  with 


64  ON  THE  MONONGAHELA. 

your  visit  here,  I  feel  certain;  the  beautiful  scenery  along  the  rugged 
shores,  to  say  nothing  of  the  many  strange  sights  of  other  kinds,  upon 
and  along  the  river,  should  certainly  please  you,  very  much. 

While  we  are  waiting  for  our  boat  to  start,  I  may  as  well  tell  you 
something  about  the  history  of  the  Monongahela  river  and  coal  mining 
industry. 

Do  you  see  that  black  band  along  the  hillside  away  up  there  near 
the  top  ?  That  is  what  is  known  as  the  Pittsburgh  coal-bed  which  I  have 
before  mentioned.  It  is  from  this  bed  that  all  the  coal  along  this  river,  or 
at  least,  for  a  long  distance  up,  is  taken.  The  river  is  lined  with  coal 
mines,  their  black  mouths  being  seen,  in  the  hillsides,  at  short  intervals, 
all  the  way  up,  for  a  hundred  miles.  They  are  all  drift  mines,  too,  the 
openings  being  made  straight  in  from  the  face  of  the  hills,  on  a  level,  or 
nearly  so.  Remember,  we  have  left  the  tossed  and  tumbled-up  anthra- 
cite country,  and  that  here,  on  this  side  of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  the 
coal-beds  and  all  the  other  strata,  lie  smoothly  spread  out,  though  dip- 
ping slightly,  as  you  know,  toward  the  Southwest,  and  being  arranged 
in  a  series  of  several  great  waves,  with  wide  troughs  or  basins,  several 
miles  across,  lying  between — the  anticlinals  and  synclinals  of  which  1 
told  some  of  you,  a  year  ago,  when  we  were  among  the  oil  wells,  now 
not  far  distant  from  us. 

The  fine  quality  of  this  coal  was  known  away  back  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  years,  or  more,  ago,  when  Pittsburgh  wasn't  Pittsburgh  yet, 
but  was  only  a  lonely  French  fort  and  Indian  trading  post — Fort  Du 
Quesne,  in  command  of  Colonel  Boquet.  Yes  ;  quite  a  funny  name,  to  us. 
We  find  frequent  mentions  made  of  the  coal  and  coal  mines,  at  that  day. 
With  the  increasing  settlement  of  this  part  of  the  country,  by  the  white 
people,  the  use  of  the  coal  increased  and  mines  multiplied,  of  course. 
With  the  opening  up  of  steamboat  navigation  on  the  western  rivers,  in 
1811,  the  increase  in  population  and  manufacturing  was  rapid,  and,  of 
course,  increased  the  demand  for  coal.  In  1817  the  carrying  of  the  coal 
in  flat-boats  was  commenced.  The  coal  would  be  mined  during  the 
winter,  and  sent  down  the  hill  and  piled  up  along  the  shore,  to  await 
the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  and  the  coming  of  the  freshets  in  the  spring, 
when  the  coal  would  be  loaded  into  flat-boats  called  'French  Creeks,' 
(because  built  on  French  Creek,)  and  sent  down  the  river.  They  were 
simply  allowed  to  float  with  the  tide,  and  pretty  much  at  its  mercy,  too, 
though  the  men  in  charge  of  each  boat  could  guide  its  course  by  means 
of  the  great  sweep  or  guiding-oar  attached. 

After  this  fashion  the  coal  was  floated  to  points  down  the  Ohio  river, 
for  many  years,  the  business  steadily  increasing  all  the  while,  as  the 
towns  and  cities  grew  and  multiplied,  mining  operations  being  gradually 
extended  up  the  Monongahela.  During  the  dry  seasons,  however,  that 
stream  was  often  reduced  to  a  mere  creek,  interfering  with  the  floating 
of  the  coal  away  from  the  mines,  which  could  be  accomplished  only  at 
certain  times.  To  remedy  this,  a  company  was  formed  to  build  dams 


ON  THE  MONONGAHELA.  65 

across  the  river,  with  locks  through  which  the  flat-boats  could  pass.  Two 
locks  were  ready  in  1841,  and  since  then  six  or  eight  more  have  been 
added.  They  are  from  10  to  15  miles  apart,  and  each  dam  backs  the 
water  as  far  up  as  the  next  one,  keeping  it  deep  enough  in  each  'pool' 
for  the  passage  of  the  boats.  This  has  greatly  helped  the  coal  business 
ever  since,  you  may  be  sure. 

It  was  not  until  1845,  however,  that  the  idea  of '  towing '  the  coal-boats 
by  steamboats  built  for  the  purpose,  was  put  in  practice.  Like  other 
progressive  ideas,  it  was  '  pooh-poohed  !  and  laughed  at,  and  those  who 
advocated  it  were  called  fools.  But  a  successful  trip  was  made  to  Cin- 
cinnati, and  from  that  time  to  this,  the  towing  of  coal  has  been  a  steadily 
increasing  business,  until  now  there  are  great  numbers  of  tow-boats,  and 
thousands  of  the  box-shaped  vessels  in  which  the  coal  is  carried — barge, 
coal-boat  and  flat  being  the  names  given  to  the  different  kinds  of  these 
coal-carrying  boats. 

The  coal  tow-boats,  as  you  have  seen,  are  not  like  the  fussy  little 
4  tugs  '  which  some  of  you  have  seen  at  Chicago,  or  New  York,  or  else- 
where, pulling  the  great  vessels  after  them,  by  means  of  a  cable  ;  but  are 
very  large  and  powerfully  built  vessels,  with  tall  smoke-stacks,  and  with 
a  great  paddle-wheel  behind.  Barges  are  large,  flat-bottomed  and 
straight-sided  vessels,  130  feet  long  by  25  feet  wide,  and  5  or  6  feet  deep, 
and  holding  13,000  bushels  of  coal — oh,  my  !  no  ;  coal  is  not  '  measured 
out '  by  the  bushel, — though  it  is  sold  by  the  bushel ;  being  weighed,  in- 
stead of  measured,  however,  to  find  the  number  of  bushels  in  a  wagon- 
load,  or  car-load,  or  boat-load,  as  the  case  may  be.  In  the  anthracite 
region,  all  sales  are  in  tons,  you  know  ;  but  here,  while  there  are  sales 
by  the  ton,  of  course,  nearly  all  sales  are  by  the  bushel.  The  law  says 
that  76  pounds  of  coal  shall  make  a  bushel ;  and  so,  all  we  have  to  do  is 
to  weigh  our  coal,  to  get  at  the  number  of  bushels.  In  loading  railroad 
cars  or  coal-boats,  each  mine  carload  is  weighed  before  being  dropped 
into  the  car  or  boat ;  and  so,  by  taking  the  weight  of  all  the  loads 
emptied  into  it,  we  can  tell  how  many  bushels  are  in  a  car  or  boat,  you 
see.  Families  buy  this  coal  by  the  bushel,  as  weighed,  the  price  here,  for 
best  coal,  bring  five  to  six  cents  per  bushel.  But  to  proceed:  The  flats 
are  much  like  barges,  but  smaller,  holding  4,000  bushels.  Barges  and 
flats  are  carefully  and  substantially  built,  and  may  be  used  for  nine  or  ten 
years — unless  sooner  sunk  or  mashed  to  pieces  by  some  accident.  They 
are  always  brought  back  to  the  mines,  after  the  coal  is  unloaded  where 
sold.  Down^the  river, — perhaps  at  New  Orleans,  over  2,000  miles  away, 
by  river, — boats  are  the  largest,  holding  24,000  bushels.  They  are  in- 
tended for  just  the  one  trip,  being  more  cheaply  built,  than  the  others, 
and  are  sold  with  the  coal,  down  the  river.  Then  there  are  the  fuel-flats, 
(holding  about  7,000  bushels,)  which  carry  the  coal  to  be  used  by  the  tow 
boat,  itself,  while  making  a  trip. 

Just  now,  as  you  see,  there  are  quite  a  large  number  of  tow-boats, 
lying,  'tied  up,'  along  the  shore,  here  in  the  harbor,  waiting  for  a  rise  in 
5 


66 


ON  THE  MONONGAHELA. 


ON  THE  MONONGAHELA.  67 

the  river  ;*  for,  while  the  dams  and  locks  permit  of  constant  passage  up 
and  down  the  Monongahela,  they,  of  course,  cannot  help  the  condition 
of  things  in  the  Ohio,  which  is  now  at  a  low  stage.  Besides  the  boats 
lying  here,  there  are  many  more  scattered  at  various  points  down  the 
Ohio,  unable  to  come  up,  with  their  'empties/  until  there  is  more  water. 
Then,  too,  there  are  others,  lying  at  the  mines  up  along  the  Monongahela. 
You  see,  there  are  two  classes  of  tow-boats.  The  smaller  ones  are  for 
use  on  the  Monongahela,  only,  taking  the  loaded  barges,  etc.,  from  the 
mines  to  the  harbor,  af  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  at  Pittsburgh,  and  taking  the 
'empties'  up  to  the  mines  again,  from  the  harbor,  as  brought  back  from 
'below,'  as  it  is  termed, — that  is,  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi. 
The  larger  boats  take  the  coal  from  the  harbor  to  the  cities  and 
towns  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi ;  some  going,  as  I  have 
already  intimated,  as  far  as  New  Orleans.  Much  of  the  coal  is  brought 
down  from  the  mines,  during  the  times  of  low  water  in  the  Ohio,  and  is 
made  fast — 'tied  up' — to  the  shore,  or  to  the  piers  of  bridges,  by  great 
chains  and  cables,  to  await  the  coming  freshet.  There  it  lies,  you  see, 
acres  and  acres  and  acres  of  it,  along  the  shore,  in  the  barges  and  other 
craft.  Besides  these,  large  numbers  of  loaded  barges,  etc.,  are  lying  at  the 
different  mines,  up  the  river,  to  be  hurriedly  brought  down,  when  the 
rise  begins,  and  turned  over  to  the  larger  boats,  for  the  trip  'below.' 

The  greatest  feat  on  record  in  boating  was  that  performed  by  one  of 
the  largest  tow-boats, — the  W.  W.  O'Neil,— in  May,  1886.  The  tow  of 
this  boat  consisted  of  forty-one  barges  and  other  boats,  loaded  with  coal 
to  the  amount  of  796,820  bushels,  and  two  other  barges,  loaded  with  400 
tons  each  of  hay,  etc. , — forty-three  pieces  in  all !  The  tow  was  302  feet 
wide  and  640  feet  long, — covering  an  area  in  the  water  of  nearly  four  and 
one-half  acres  !  the  coal  thus  being  towed  along  representing  the  quantity 
(pillars,  etc.,  being  left)  from  nearly  eight  acres  of  the  Pittsburgh  bed.  To 
give  you  an  idea  of  the  quantity  of  coal  in  the  tow,  let  us  have  Ned  figure 
it  out  for  us,  supposing  it  were  to  be  hauled  by  railroad.  Each  car,  we 
will  say,  will  hold  300  bushels  of  coal,  and  each  locomotive  can  haul 
twenty-five  cars;  now,  how  many  trains  will  be  required  to  haul  it?  Ah ! 
let's  see, — that's  right, — 2,656  cars  !  or  106  trains  of  twenty-five  cars  each  ! 
Quite  a  load  of  coal  for  one  boat,  you  see. 

The  system  of  towing  coal  is  most  novel,  and  is  peculiar  to  itself,  in 
the  principles  involved  and  the  methods  employed.  As  a  recent  writer 

*  As  a  matter  of  fact,  up  to  the  date  of  this  writing,  December  27th,  there  has  been  no 
general  "  run  "  of  coal  down  the  Ohio  since  early  in  the  summer — a  condition  of  things  without 
precedent  in  the  history  of  coal-boating,  and  having  been  brought  about  by  the  drought  which 
has  been  so  general  throughout  the  Union.  Even  the  dams  on  the  Monongahela  have  failed 
to  afford  a  sufficient  depth  of  water,  and  an  additional  height  of  18  inches  was  given  them,  by 
means  of  a  temporary  arrangement  of  planks,  in  order  to  run  the  coal  from  the  various  works 
down  to  the  harbor,  at  Pittsburgh — where  13,000,000  bushels  of  coal,  in  barges,  etc.,  are  waiting 
the  long-deferred  rise;  all  barges,  flats,  etc.,  on  hand  being  full.  A  "coal-boat  stage"  of 
water  is  from  10  to  12  feet  above  low-water  mark,  and  a  number  of  "  runs,"  of  from  6,000,000 
to  10,000,000  bushels,  each,  are  usually  made  each  year.  No  system  of  transportation,  it  may  be 
stated,  can  compare  in  cheapness  with  the  towing  of  coal,  as  here  practiced.  The  cargoes 
handled  by  the  tow-boats— comparatively  small  vessels— are  greater  than  any  ever  carried  by 
that  famous  ocean  steamship,  the  "  Great  Eastern." 


68  DAMS  AND  LOCKS. 

says,  'No  other  transport  service  in  the  world  is  based  upon  similar  prin- 
ciples of  construction  or  navigation;  and  he  further  adds,  that  it  is  a 
striking  fact  that  the  ablest  general  in  the  British  army,  intended,  in  an 
approaching  expedition  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Nile,  to  employ  two 
stern- wheel  boats,  built  upon  the  ideas  underlying  the  construction  of 
these  tow-boats.  We  shall,  no  doubt,  have  an  opportunity  to  see  a  tow- 
boat  with  its  tow  of  barges,  etc.,  'under  way,'  before  we  go  elsewhere  ; 
indeed,  we  may  be  fortunate  enough  to  see  many  of  them. 
Ah  !  our  boat  is  backing  off  from  the  wharf,  I  notice." 


XVI. 

UP  THE  RIVER:  COAL  WORKS— DAMS  AND 

LOCKS. 


"  Off  we  go  !  at  last.  And  what  a  cloud  of  the  blackest  smoke,  we 
leave  behind  us,  as  the  coal  is  thrown  into  the  furnace  under  the  great 
boilers  !  No  such  a  display  of  smoke  as  this,  in  the  anthracite  region  ; 
was  there  ?  And  after  all,  while  the  smoke  and  soot  of  the  bituminous 
coal  soils  and  makes  dingy  everything  white,  one  likes  to  watch  the  great 
billows  of  it  pouring  from  the  smoke  stacks  of  steamboats,  and  locomotives 
and  factories,  and  the  smaller  columns  of  it  rising  from  the  chimneys  of 
the  houses.  How  the  paddle-wheels  swish  and  swash  as  they  go  round 
and  round  in  the  water,  shoving  our  boat  forward.  We  have  two  of 
them,  one  on  each'side  of  our  boat,  while  the  tow-boats  have  but  one, — 
behind  ;  our  boat  is  a  *  side-wheeler, '  while  all  the  tow-boats  are  '  stern- 
wheelers,  '  you  notice.  Some  passenger  boats,  however,  are  stern-wheel 
boats,  instead  of  side-wheel  boats,  like  this  one. 

Yonder  comes  another  boat,  down  the  river,  meeting  us.  Run 
together?  Oh,  no  Bess,  you  needn't  be  afraid  of  that;  they  will  pass 
each  other,  safely.  No,  indeed,  no  danger  of  that  either  ;  each  knows 
which  side  to  take.  How?  Well  keep  your  ears  open  now;  Listen — 
our  boat  is  whistling.  She  gave  one  blast,  you  notice.  Now  the  other 
boat  is  whistling ;  one  blast,  too,  so — no,  there's  another,  making  two 
blasts.  Our  boat  is  whistling  again  ;  two  blasts,  this  time.  Now,  see, 
both  boats  are  turning  out  of  their  course,  a  little,  and  will  soon  pass. 
Don't  understand,  Ned  ?  Well,  the  pilots  were  talking  to  each  other  by 
these  blasts  of  the  whistles.  Our  pilot  told  the  other  one  when  he  blew 
the  first  blast,  which  side  he  wanted  to  take,  in  passing  ;  or,  we  may  say, 
he  was  asking  the.  other  pilot  if  we  might  take  that  side.  You  see,  when 
boats  meet,  the  boat  going  down  the  river  always  has  the  '  right  of  way  ; ' 


DAMS  AND  LOCKS. 


69 


70  DAMS  AND  LOCKS. 

that  is,  the  pilot  of  the  boat  going  down  has  the  choice  of  sides,  in  pass- 
ing. The  boat  going  up  whistles  one  or  two  blasts,  as  the  case  may  be, 
to  tell  the  other  which  side  it  wants  to  take.  If  it  suits  the  other  boat,  it 
answers  by  giving  the  same  number  of  blasts,  and  the  arrangement  is 
settled  ;  if  not,  it  gives  the  opposite  number,  and  as  it  has  the  right  of 
way,  the  boat  going  up  has  to  answer  the  upper,  giving  the  same  number, 
and  pass  to  that  side,  accordingly.  The  law  requires  this  exchange  of 
signals,  so  that  collisions  cannot  occur.  The  boats  must  answer  each 
other  until  both  blow  the  same  number  of  blasts,  which  shows  that  they 
understand  each  other.  There  she  goes  by  us — a  tow-boat,  but  without 
a  tow.  What  waves  she  piles  up  in  her  wake,  as  her  big  wheel  churns  the 
water  !  In  passing,  where  one  boat  has  a  tow  of  coal  with  the  barges 
loaded  down  until  the  top  is  but  little  above  the  water,  it  is  necessary  for 
the  other  boat  to  go  very  slowly,  lest  the  waves  from  her  wheel  should 
sink  some  of  the  other  boat's  barges. 


COAL    PIT    MOUTH — SCENE   ON    THE    MONONGAHELA. 

Yonder  is  a  colliery,— or  coal-works,  they  call  it,  here, — on  the 
western  shore.  Away  up  yonder,  near  the  top  of  the  hill,  you  can  see 
the  mouth  of  the  mine— 'pit- mouth,'  we  say,  here,  'coal-pit'  or  'pit,'  in- 
stead of  'coal-mine'  being  most  generally  used.  Some  cars  are  just  being 
hauled  out,  you  see,  from  the  'pit,'  following  a  track  laid  out  along  the 
hillside  to  the  check-house— that  dingy -looking  building  perched  against 
the  hillside.  You  see  there  is  a  railway— an  'incline'— from  the  check- 


DAMS  AND  LOCKS.  7* 

house  down  to  that  building  on  the  shore.  In  the  check-house  is  wind- 
ing machinery,— drums,  etc.,— similar  to  that  which  we  saw  at  the  an- 
thracite collieries.  When  the  loaded  cars  from  the  mine  reach  the  head 
of  the  incline,  at  the  check-house,  the  wire  cable  is  attached  to  them,  and 


PIT,    CHECK-HOUSE,    INCLINE   AND    TIPPLE. 

they  go  flying  down  the  incline,  some  empty  cars  going  up  the  other 
track  at  the  same  time— there  go  some,  now.  That  house,  built  out 
the  river,  is  the  tipple.  The  loaded  cars  run  into  the  tipple, 


over 


where  they  are  tipped  up,  the  end  opens,  and  out  goes  the  coal.  It 
falls  upon  screen  bars  like  those  we  saw  at  the  breaker,  the  smaller  pieces 
'going  through,  and  the  lumps  sliding  down  into  that  large  swinging  iron 


72  DAMS  AND  LOCKS. 

pan,  we  will  call  it,  which  you  can  see,  from  which  it  is  dumped—  into  the 
river?  Oh,  no;  but  into  that  big  barge,  which  you  see  lying  under 
the  outer  end  of  the  tipple.  The  smaller  pieces  fall  upon  another  set  of 
bars,  or  screen,  and  are  again  divided,  the  larger  pieces,  called  'nut'  coal, 
going  into  another  barge  or  flat,  and  the  slack  into  yet  another, — you  see 
the  two,  further  under  the  tipple.  While  being  filled,  the  barges  or  other 
boats  are  held  in  place  by  great  cables,  made  fast  to  posts  in  the  shore. 
As  the  vessel  is  filled  at  one  point  it  is  allowed  to  float  down  a  few  feet, 
being  then  again  made  fast  while  the  coal  is  emptied  into  it.  When  full, 
it  is  floated  to  a  point  below  the  tipple,  and  made  fast  alongside  of  other 
loaded  ones,  another  one  being  floated  into  its  place  at  the  tipple. 

The  breaker?  Oh,  there  are  no  breakers  in  the  bituminous  region. 
This  coal  does  not  have  to  be  broken  for  use,  as  the  lumps  thrown  upon 
the  fires  burst  into  a  blaze,  at  once,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  when  slightly 
warmed,  can  be  split  and  broken,  if  it  is  necessary  or  desirable,  by  a 
blow  of  the  poker.  For  the  open  fireplaces — grates — everywhere  seen 
here  and  wherever  bituminous  coal  is  used,  lumps  as  large  as  your  head, 
or  even  larger,  are  preferred  to  the  smaller  coal.  And  what  a  beautiful 
.and  cheerful  fire  they  do  make,  as  we  saw,  last  night, — the  yellow  blaze 
roaring  up  the  chimney,  and  the  gas-jets  pouring  out  of  the  cracks  of  the 
lumps,  some  as  long  plumes  of  soft  white  smoke,  like  little  volcanoes, 
blazing  like  miniature  gas  wells  ;  others,  and — but  I'm  running  clean 
away  from  the  subject  in  hand.  There  are  no  breakers,  as  I  said,  and 
all  the  separation  of  coal  that  is  practiced  is  into  slack,  nut  and  lump  ; 
the  nut  coal  is  about  as  large  as  unshucked  walnuts,  while  lump  coal  in- 
cludes every  size  from  this  up  to  the  great  big  pieces  which  you  couldn't 
lift.  Sometimes  there  is  no  separation,  at  all,  all  going  together.  Mining 
here,  with  drift  mines,  and  with  no  breakers,  is  not  so  expensive  as 
in  the  anthracite  regions. 

But  look  ahead,  yonder.  Aha  !  what  is  it,  indeed  ?  Yes,  it  does  look 
like  a  waterfall  Ned,  sure  enough  ;  and  it  certainly  is  one;  but  not  a 
natural  one.  It  is  one  of  the  dams  I  told  you  about,  stretching  across  the 
river  and  blocking  our  way,  it  seems.  Oh,  we'll  get  up,  Miss  Inquisitive, 
— somehow.  We  are  heading  toward  the  shore  now,  you  notice,  where 
those  walls  are  ;  that  is  the  lock,  and  it  is  there  that  we  will  find  a  way  to 
get  up  over  the  dam.  Now,  see  how  it  is  done.  The  lock-keeper  has 
heard  our  whistle  and  is  getting  ready  for  us.  See  those  two  great  doors 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  walls,  opening  back  against  them  ;  now  they  are 
back  and  our  boat  can  run  in — for  that  is  where  it  is  heading.  There  is 
another  pair  of  gates,  you  see,  at  the  upper  end,  kept  closed,  now,  to 
keep  the  water  from  the  dam  from  pouring  in  between  the  walls.  Now, 
carefully — in  we  go !  the  top  of  our  boat  only  level  with  the  tops  of  the 
walls  !  Now  they  are  closing  the  big  doors,  again,  behind  us  ;  we  are 
shut  in,  sure  enough.  But  look  yonder;  they  are  opening  the  upper 
doors,  and — oh,  no,  no — we  won't  be  drowned,  Bess,  you  goosey  ;  have 
you  forgotten  that  our  boat  floats  on  the  top  of  the  water,  always  ?  Come 


DAMS  AND  LOCKS.  73 

and  see  how  we  get  out  of  this  trap.  The  doors  are  opening  slowly, 
you  see,  and  the  water  is,  of  course,  coming  in.  Higher?  Ha,  ha  !  how 
astonished  you  look  !  Of  course  we  are  rising ;  the  water  from  above  is 
pouring  in,  and  filling  the  space  between  the  walls,— for  it  can't  get  out, 
below,  now,  you  see — and  we  go  up  as  it  rises.  There  now,  the  lock  is 
full,  up  to  the  level  of  the  dam  ;  all  we  have  to  do  now  is  to  run  on  up 
the  river— which  we  are  already  doing  !  For  boats  going  the  other  way 
the  plan  is  reversed.  The  upper  doors  are  opened,  the  lower  ones  being 
kept  shut,  until  the  boat  runs  in  off  the  dam— between  the  walls,— the 
tops  of  the  walls,  that  is  the  remainder  being  hidden,  as  when  we  ran  out 


RIVER  COAL  TIPPLE. 


just  now.  Then  the  upper  doors  are  closed,  and  the  lower  ones  opened. 
The  water  between  the  walls  runs  out,  the  boat  getting  lower  as  the 
water  falls,  until  it  is  where  we  were  when  we  first  ran  in.  It  is  then  at 
the  level  of  the  water  below  the  dam,  and  runs  out  and  goes  on  its  way  ! 
Without  these  dams,  which  hold  the  water  and  keep  it  deep  enough  for 
the  boats,  we  could  not  be  boat-riding  now,  as  the  river,  on  account  of 
the  dry  weather,  would  be  without  them  a  mere  creek. 


74 


DAMS  AND  LOCKS. 


DAMS  AND  LOCKS.  75 

Coal-works,  you  notice,  are  numerous,  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 
They  are  all  alike,  in  general,  too,  having  the  incline  down  the  steep, 
rocky,  hillside  from  the  pit,  the  tipple  at  the  river,  and  the  barges,  loaded 
and  empty,  lying  along  the  shore,  with  one  or  more  tow-boats  with  them. 
See  what  a  slack-dump  at  that  one  ;  it  runs,  you  see,  from  the  pit,  almost 
at  the  top  of  the  hill,  down  to  the  railroad  track,  at  its  foot. 

Suppose  we  go  ashore  here  now,  as  the  boat  is  going  to  land  to  take 
on  some  passengers  ;  we  can  stay  here,  to-night,  and  to-morrow  visit  one 
of  the  mines. 

Off  with  you,— quick  !  but  don't  fall  off  the  plank,  into  the  river. 
'  Rain,  rain,  rain  ! '  This  will  please  the  coal-shippers,  I  know.  It 
has  been  raining  since  about  ten  o'clock,  last  night,  and  if  it  continues  at 
this  rate  until  to-morrow  morning,  we'll  see  busy  times  on  the  river,  sure. 
Now,  put  on  those  waterproof  coats  and  cloaks,  and  we'll  visit  yonder 
mine, — if  it  is  a  bad  day. 

Whew  !  that  was  a  climb, — sure  enough  !  Steep  as  a  ladder,  I've 
heard  people  say ;  and  though  I  don't  know  just  how  steep  that  is,  I 
suppose  this  must  be  about  what  is  meant.  But  let  us  go  into  the  mine  ; 
it  isn't  raining  in  there. 

No  shaft  or  slope  to  ride  down,  here  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  just  walk 
in,  as  upon  a  floor,  its  a  little  rougher,  of  course,  but  nearly  as  level.  And 
so  we  would  find  it,  throughout  the  mine,  were  we  to  go  all  over  it.  By 
the  way,  I  may  say  that  in  some  of  the  older  mines  here,  along  the  river, 
the  coal  has  all  been  taken  out,  long  ago,  and  the  coal  which  one  sees 
coming  from  the  pit-mouth  now,  comes  from  mines  back  in  the  other 
hills,  sometimes  quite  a  distance  away, —  the  old  mine  opening  now  serv- 
ing as  a  tunnel  to  get  the  coal  from  the  new  mine  to  the  river. 

All  through  this  region,  and  not  alone  upon  the  river,  there  are 
coal  mines, — nearly  all  being  drift  mines,  in  hillsides  ;  but  there  are  some 
shafts  at  points  where  the  coal  has  dipped  below  the  hills.  Coal-works 
line  the  railroads,  and  a  great  shipping  business  is  carried  on.  The  rail- 
road tipples  are  like  these  river  tipples,  the  coal — lump,  nut  and  slack — 
being  loaded  into  cars  just  as  it  is  here  loaded  into  barges  and  flats. 

The  miners  here  are  not  paid  as  in  the  anthracite  region  ;  but  all 
their  coal  is  weighed,  and  they  are  paid  accordingly,  the  rate  now  being 
three  cents  per  bushel, — that  is,  76'pounds.  All  the  coal  is  weighed  in  the 
tipple,  before  going  into  the  barges  or  railroad  cars.  Each  miner  is 
known  by  his  number — the  number  of  his  room,  that  is — and  is  provided 
with  a  lot  of  short  pieces  of  wood  bearing  his;  number.  One  of  these 
pieces  he  puts  in  each  car  of  coal  he  sends  out  of  the  mine.  At  the  tipple, 
this  numbered  piece  of  wood  is  taken  out,  and  the  owner  is  credited  with 
the  weight  of  coal  in  the  car.  When  pay  day  comes,  at  the  end  of  the 
week  or  month,  he  is  paid  for  the  amount  mined,  as  shown  by  the  tipple 
records.  In  order  to  protect  the  miners,  there  are  two  weighmen  in  the 
tipple, — one  the  company's  clerk,  and  the  other,  called  a  'check-weigh- 
man' — representing  the  miners. 


76  A  COAL-BOAT  RISE. 

The  miners  are  of  many  nationalities — Americans,  Englishmen, 
Welshmen,  Scotchmen,  Irishmen,  Frenchmen,  Italians  and  others.  There 
are  more  foreigners  than  Americans,  by  far.  There  are  many  thousands 
of  miners  in  these  coal  fields. 

Now,  we  are  getting  back  to  the  workings.  Not  much  work  is  being 
done,  now,  however,  (and,  indeed,  none  at  all,  at  some  mines,)  as  all  the 
barges  on  hand  are  loaded,  and  empty  ones  cannot  be  brought  up  from 
down  the  Ohio,  until  the  river  rises.  Here  are  breasts — or  rooms,  they 
are  more  often  called  here — on  both  sides  of  the  gangway,  or  entry,  as  it 
is  commonly  called.  The  pit-cars  are  run  right  into  the  rooms  to  be  loaded, 
you  see,  and  there  are  no  shutes  nor  batteries  as  in  the  anthracite  mines. 
We  are  now  at  the  end  of  the  workings  in  this  direction,  I  find  —  though 
they  are  still  being  pushed  forward.  Here  is  a  room  just  being  opened, 
the  miner  working  his  way  with  a  pick  instead  of  a  drill,  for  blasting,  as 
in  the  other  coal-region.  He  is  '  bearing  in,'  now,  along  the  side  of  that 
block  of  coal,  having  already  cut  back  under,  at  the  bottom.  It  is  only 
little  by  little,  indeed,  that  he  cuts  his  way  into  the  black  mass  before  him  ; 
but,  once  he  has  finished  the  bearing  in,  he  can,  by  wedging  at  the  top, 
bring  down  a  great  mass  of  coal.  As,  however,  we  have  already  seen  in 
the  anthracite  mines  practically  the  same  operations  we  would  see  here, 
we  will  not  stay  longer,  but  will  go  to  the  surface,  again. 

Still  it  pours  !  Once  down  this  slippery  path  and  at  home,  we  will 
sit  by  the  fire  for  the  remainder  of  the  day.  To-morrow  will  bring  us  some 
sights." 


XVII. 
A  COAL-BOAT  RISE. 


"  Oho  !  look  at  the  river,  this  morning  !  That  flood  of  yellow  water 
means — all  coal  out  for  '  below.'  We  will  catch  the  first  boat,  and  be  off 
down  the  river. 

All  aboard,  again  !  Be  quick,  Ned.  Off  we  go,  this  time  down  the 
river.  Now  keep  your  eyes  open,  and  see  what  the  coal-men  are  about. 
Away  up  the  river,  yonder,  are  two  or  three  boats  in  sight,  each  with  a 
tow  of  barges  and  flats.  Others  are  following  them,  as  those  great  clouds 
of  smoke  beyond  the  bend  testify.  Look  over  here,  at  this  landing. 
These  two  boats  are  busy  making  up  their  tows  from  the  barges  lying 
here, — the  boats  backing  and  pushing  and  choo-chooing,  and  the  men 
shouting  and  running  about  like  mad.  Everybody  is  in  a  hurry,  you  see  ; 
and  boat  rises  don't  come  every  day.  We  are  slowing  up  now,  to  pass 
this  boat  with  its  tow.  And  here  is  another,  just  in  front,  too.  Notice 


A  COAL-BOAT  RISE. 


77 


78  A  COAL-BOAT   RISE. 

how  the  tow  is  made  up.  On  either  side  of  the  tow-boat  is  a  flat— the 
fuel  flats — while  the  main  part  of  the  tow  is  in  front  of  the  boat,  one  set  of 
barges  in  front  of  the  other,  making  it  two  barge  lengths  in  depth,  and 
spreading  out  two  or  three  times  the  boat's  width,  too.  Those  cables 
crossing  from  one  to  the  other,  hold  the  barges  together  side  by  side  and 
end  to  end. 

Here  is  another  boat,  with  its  tow,  just  getting  under  way, — and  here 
is  another  to  be  passed  ;  we  can  travel  faster  than  they,  you  see.  See  the 
smoke  beyond  that  bend  ;  there  must  be  several  boats  close  together,  just 
ahead.  Look  !  there  must  be  half  a  dozen,  or  more  !  And  they  do  not 
seem  to  be  moving  !  Oh,  I  have  it ;  we  are  at  the  lock,  and  the  boats  are 
waiting  their  turn  to  go  through,  '  First  come,  first  served  '  is  the  rule  at 
the  lock.  It  takes  some  time  to  get  a  boat  and  tow  through,  as  there  is 
room  for  but  so  many  barges,  etc.,  at  a  time  ;  and  then,  besides  the  time 
taken  to  pass  them  through,  other  time  is  lost  in  separating  them — break- 
ing up  the  tow — and  in  getting  them  properly  rearranged  after  the  passage. 
Before  double  locks  were  made  at  the  lower  dams,— all  the  boats  and 
tows  having  then  to  pass  through  one,  instead  of  being  divided  between 
two,  as  now, — there  were  some  lively  scenes  at  this  lock.  The  river  would 
be  fairly  filled  with  boats,  all  wanting  to  get  through  as  soon  as  possible, 
lest  the  water  should  begin  to  fall  again  before  the  tows  could  be  started 
down  the  Ohio.  Some  had  to  wait  a  day  and  night  before  their  turn 
would  come,  and  quarrels  sometimes  occurred,  caused  by  some  captain 
trying  to  steal  for  his  boat  another  one's  turn. 

Now  we  are  through,  and  away,  with  plenty  of  company,  in  the  way 
of  tow-boats,  around  us.  Here  we  are  in  the  harbor  again.  What  a  dif- 
ferent scene  from  that  which  we  left,  two  days  ago.  The  river  is  alive  with 
boats,  pulling  and  'pushing,  running  in  and  out  and  up  and  down — and 
whistling  !  Well,  you  never  heard  the  like  ;  did  you  ?  And  smoke  !  you 
never  saw  the  like,  either.  Coal-fleet  is  in  motion;  the  smaller  boats  bring- 
ing down  the  coal,  as  we  have  seen,  and  the  big  fellows,  here,  getting  it 
into  shape  for  a  start  when  the  water  rises  yet  a  little  higher,  as  it  will  do 
when  the  full  effect  of  the  far-up  streams  is  felt.  See  that  large  lot  of  coal 
lying  over  there,  with  the  three  big  tow-boats  lying  alongside.  They  are 
getting  up  steam  in  the  boats,  you  see,  to  get  their  tows  ready — and  big 
ones  they'll  be,  too,  to  include  all  those  barges  and  flats.  We  will  go  to 
dinner,  as  soon  as  we  land,  and  come  back  this  afternoon  in  time  to  see 
them  go  out. 

Just  in  time  !  they  are  beginning  to  go.  See  yonder  fellow,  bravely 
tugging  away  to  get  the  tow  past  that  pier.  Ah  !  too  late  !  crash  it  goes  ! 
and  is  crushed  like  an  egg-shell  by  reason  of  the  tremendous  momentum 
or  force,  of  the  huge  field  of  coal.  Down  it  goes,  to  the  bottom  !  See 
the  men  cutting  the  cable  to  let  it  loose  ;  now,  the  rest  swing  under  the 
bridge,  and  away  they  go  !  The  company  may  charge  the  lost  barge  to 
'profit  and  loss' ;  and  maybe  there'll  be  some  others  to  be  entered  on 
the  books  thus,  before  they  all  reach  their  ports.  Mishaps  often  occur,  not 


A  COAL-BOAT  RISE 


8o  A  COAL-BOAT  RISE. 

only  one,  but  sometimes  many,  barges  are  lost,  or  delay  is  occasioned — 
the  striking  of  bridge  piers,  collision  with  other  tows,  'swamping'  of  barges, 
running  upon  sand-bars  and  sticking  fast,  etc.  Great  skill  and  equal 
coolness  must  be  possessed  by  the  pilot.  He  must  know  every  foot  of  the 
river,  so  as  to  be  able  to  follow  the  often  narrow  and  tortuous  channel — 
the  deepest  part  of  the  river,  where  the  boats  must  run— as  it  shifts  from 
shore  to  shore,  and  must  carefully  calculate  his  steering  as  he  swings  past 
obstructions  or  between  the  piers  of  bridges.  Ice  is  a  source  of  danger 
to  the  coal  men,  at  the  time  of  a  general  break-up.  When  suddenly- 
breaking  away  before  the  pressure  of  the  dammed-up  water,  after  having 
been  gorged  for  miles,  perhaps,  it  sweeps  everything  before  it,  even  de- 
stroying or  greatly  damaging  the  strong  dams.  A  few  years  ago,  the  ice 
in  a  few  minutes  crushed  thirty  steam-boats  and  many  barges  and  other 
coal-boats  ! 

Away  they  go,  one  after  the  other,  as  their  tows  are  made  up.  The 
dwellers  in  the  far-away  cities  will  welcome  them,  as  it  means  lower 
prices  for  coal  than  they  have  been  paying  for  some  time.  Let  us  see 
another  off,  and  then  go  ;  we  can't  see  all  off,  for  some  may  not  get  away 
before  midnight.  Here  she  comes,  the  largest  tow-boat  in  the  service. 
too.  And  what  a  tow  she  has  !  A  great  island  of  coal !  I  do  not  know 
how  much  coal  she  has  this  time,  but  one  of  her  former  tows  was  the 
largest  ever  taken  out. 

I  read,  the  other  day,  a  fine  description  of  the  handling  of  one  of  these 
immense  tows  of  coal,  and  I  cannot  do  better  than  give  it  to  you.  The 
writer  says:  '  The  "  driving,"  (for  such  it  almost  seems  to  be,  in  its  hand- 
ling by  the  deft  pilot  who,  with  sinewy  arms,  whirls  and  revvhirls  the  wheel 
that  guides  the  boat 'and  this  mass  of  coal,)  is  a  task  to  which  only  those 
brought  up  to  the  trade  are  competent.  Skill,  judgment,  nerve  are  all 
called  into  play  as  this  ponderous  bulk,  borne  along  on  a  river  at  flood 
height,  running  at  a  current  of  eight  to  ten  miles  an  hour,  sweeps  onward. 
Through  narrow  channels,  round  sharp  bends,  between  the  stone  piers  of 
bridges,  where  a  mis-turn  of  the  wheel,  a  failure  of  judgment,  a  miscalcu- 
lation of  distance  means  disaster  and  wreck,  the  pilot  guides  the  tow ;  now 
backing,  now  flanking,  now  pushing,  now  floating,  watchful  and  cool,  the 
pilot  does  his  work.  There  is  probably  no  such  boatmanship  shown  any- 
where else  in  the  world  as  is  displayed  by  the  Pittsburgh  coal  tow-boat 
pilot.  Watching  one  of  these  ponderous  tows  surging  down  the  river 
with  the  tow-boat  of  but  perhaps  90  to  100  feet  in  length  and  20  to  25  feet 
in  width  at  its  rear,  turning  it  round  bends,  flanking  it  past  points,  back- 
ing and  checking  it  in  narrow  channels,  one  cannot  but  think  of  the  old 
joke  of  the  tail  wagging  the  dog,  and  here  it  does  it,  and  does  it  well.  It 
is  a  wonderful  exhibit  of  skillful  navigation,  the  thus  handling  by  the 
nervy  grip  of  one  man  on  a  wheel,  a  bulk  of  30,000  tons,  moving  at  a 
speed  of  from  12  to  15  miles  an  hour  down  such  a  tortuous  stream  as  the 
Ohio,  and  with  perhaps  not  five  feet  to  spare  of  channel  width  or  two  feet 
of  water  depth.' 

Now,  let  us  go  home.    To-morrow  we  will  visit  the  coke-region." 


IN  THE  COKE  REGION.  81 

XVIII. 
IN  THE  COKE  REGION. 


' '  Here  we  are  in  the  great  coke  region — one  of  the  most  wonderful 
regions  of  our  country,  in  many  respects  ;  one  certainly  not  having  its  like 
anywhere.  It  is  in  this  part  of  the  coke  field,  known  as  the  Connellsville 
region,  which  is  only  about  fifty  miles  long  by  three  miles  wide,  that  the 
business  of  coke-making  is  carried  on  most  extensively  ;  but  a  very  large 
coke  business  is  carried  on  at  various  points  in  the  extension  of  this  field 
to  the  north  and  east,  along  and  upon  the  Allegheny  mountains  and  far 
up  toward  the  northern  and  central  part  of  the  State — this  region  being, 
you  know,  in  the  southwestern  part. 

See  those  great  clouds  of  smoke,  rising  skyward,  beyond  that  hill- 
top ;  we  will  make  for  that  point,  as  that  smoke  is  a  sure  indication  that 
we  shall  find  there  what  I  want  you  to  see — coke  ovens.  Oh,  no,  young 
lady,  I  hadn't  forgotten  those  long-standing  questions,— and  I  may  as  well 
answer  them  now,  as  we  walk  along. 

Coke  is  made  from  coal— bituminous  coal— by  burning  it  in  ovens, 
built  for  the  purpose,  of  stone  and  fire-brick.  These  ovens  are  usually  of 
the  shape  of  the  old-fashioned  bee-hive  (which  you  may  have  seen  in 
pictures,  if  no  where  else),  and  are,  therefore,  called  '  bee-hive  '  ovens. 
Never  saw  one  ?  Well,  if  you  were  to  cut  that  orange  into  halves,  and  lay 
the  pieces  down,  on  the  flat  part,  you  would  have  the  shape  of  the  ovens, 
pretty  nearly.  That  is,  the  inside  of  them  is  of  that  shape  ;  outside,  you 
only  see  stone  walls,  with  a  flat  top,  scores  of  ovens  being  built  together 
in  a  'range.'  There  are  other  forms  of  ovens  in  use,  but  the  bee-hive  is 
the  most  common  one. 

While  coke  can  be  made,  and  is  made,  at  many  points  outside  the 
coke  region  (any  bituminous  coal,  with  the  exception  of  the  'block'  coal, 
being  used),  yet  the  coal  of  this  region  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  making 
of  coke.  The  coal  of  this  region  is  very  much  softer  here  than  elsewhere  in 
the  same  bed  ;  so  soft  indeed,  as  to  unfit  it,  before  being  coked,  for  many 
manufacturing  purposes.  It  can,  therefore,  be  very  easily  mined,  it  being 
a  lighter  task  for  the  miner  to  pick  it  loose  from  the  bed,  than  to  shovel 
it  into  the  pit  cars,  afterwards.  Not  much  like  anthracite,  you  see.  When 
the  coal  is  brought — ah  !  now  the  ovens  are  in  sight ;  let  us  go  closer, 
climbing  yonder  bank,  where  we  can  have  a  good  view,  and  be  in  nobody's 
way. 

Now,  we  have  the  whole  cokery  spread  out  before  us,  and  an  odd 
scene  it  is,  too— and  a  busy  one.  Yonder  are  other  ranges  of  ovens,  too, 
6 


82 


IN  THE  COKE  REGION. 


frfj 

^  Jim!, * 


IN  THE  COKE  REGION.  83 

— off  to  the  right.  We  might  go  for  miles  along  the  railroads  (which, 
unfortunately,  we  do  not  have  time  to  do),  and  everywhere  find  these 
long  ranges  of  ovens.  They  are  always  built  along  the  railroads,  or 
where  switches  can  be  run  into  them,  to  provide  for  the  easy  and  rapid 
loading  of  the  coke,  as  fast  as  made. 

Yonder  is  the  mine  from  which  the  coal  for  these  ovens  is  taken  ; — 
there  come  some  cars,  now,  down  the  incline  to  the  ovens.  The  men 
yonder,  empty  them  all,  as  that  one  is  being  emptied,  now,  into  those  big 
hopper-like  iron  cars— called  '  larries' — which  run  on  the  track  laid  on  the 
top  of  the  ovens,  being  drawn  by  horses  or  mules,  and  at  some  places,  by 
small  locomotives.  Each  of  those  little  doors  in  front  opens  into  a  sepa- 
rate oven,  as  is  the  case  with  those  openings  on  top,  from  many  of  which 
the  smoke  and  flames  are  pouring.  The  ovens  are  n  or  12  feet  in  diame- 
ter and  5  or  6  feet  high,  and  are  entirely  separated  from  each  other,  by 
thick  walls.  Yonder,  now,  is  one  being  filled,  the  coal  running  out  of 
the  larry,  through  a  door  just  opened  at  the  bottom,  and  directly  into  the 
oven  through  the  hole  at  the  top.  About  100  bushels — which  is  7,600 
pounds,  you  can  see — is  put  into  each  oven  for  one  'charge',  being  spread 
evenly  on  the  floor.  It  is  made  two  feet  deep  when  it  is  to  burn  for  two 
days — 48  hours — and  2^  feet  deep  when  it  is  to  burn  three  days — 72  hours 
—as  when  in  over  Sunday.  One-day,  or  24-hours,  coke  is  sometimes 
made,  but  the  average  time  of  burning  is  48  hqurs,  this  giving  about 
the  best  coke. 

Whew  !  the  smoke  !  how  it  is  pouring  out  the  top.  You  see,  the  first 
coal  put  into  an  oven,  as  in  this  case,  takes  fire  from  the  heat  left  by  the 
charge  just  removed,  and  which  you  can  see  lying  on  the  platform,  below 
the  door.  As  fast  as  an  oven  is  emptied  it  is  filled,  again  ;  and  thus  it  is 
kept  going  all  the  time.  The  front  opening,  you  notice,  has  been  almost 
entirely  closed  up  with  bricks  coated  with  wet  clay,  to  shut  off  the  air  ;  as 
the  coking  goes  on,  the  opening  is  entirely  closed,  and  later,  the  one  on 
top,  also. 

Yonder  is  one  just  being  opened,  the  coking  having  been  completed. 
What  a  white-hot  furnace  it  is,  inside  !  Now  watch  that  man  as  he  throws 
water  upon  the  coke  in  the  oven,  by  means  of  that  hose  and  pipe — for  it  is 
cooled  before  being  taken  out.  What  a  cloud  of  steam  it  makes  !  Now, 
the  man  with  the  long  rake  is  getting  ready  for  his  part  of  the  work — and 
out  comes  the  coke,  tumbling  upon  the  platform.  In  a  little  while  the 
larry  will  be  brought  up,  and  that  oven  filled  again.  Everywhere  along 
the  range  you  can  see  these  different  operations  going  on — for  one  oven 
is  opened,  when  ready,  regardless  of  the  others.  Some  are  being  filled, 
others  emptied,  you  see,  and  other  men  are  busy  loading  the  coke  into 
cars  to  be  sent  north,  south,  east  and  west. 

That  tall  building  ?  That's  the  crusher, — not  so  large  as  the  anthra- 
cite breakers,  but  serving  much  the  same  purpose.  Those  great  pieces 
of  coke  are  what  are  wanted  at  blast  furnaces,  and  at  other  such  places, 
and  it  is  for  their  use  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  coke  is  made  ;  but  of  late 


84  SOME  FIGURES. 

there  is  a  demand  for  coke  for  household  uses,  and  it  is  to  properly  sup- 
ply this  demand  that  the  crushers  are  built,  to  break  the  coke  into  smaller 
pieces. 

The  especial  value  of  coke  lies  in  its  great  firmness.  The  coal  from 
which  it  is  made,  and  all  bituminous  coal,  excepting  the  block  coal,  melts 
down  when  burning,  and  cakes;  while  coke  will  bear,  without  crushing. 
an  enormous  weight  of  iron  ore,  iron,  etc.,  in  blast  furnaces  and  iron  mills. 
In  coking,  the  oxygen  and  hydrogen  escape  from  the  coal,  leaving  the 
coke  nearly  pure  carbon,  like  anthracite, — nearly  90  parts  in  100  being 
carbon.  It  is  of  a  beautiful  silvery  color,  as  you  can  see,  and — look  at 
this  little  piece— full  of  very  small  openings.  It  has  a  sharp  clink  or  ring, 
— as  you  notice  when  the  men  move  it  about. 

There  are  many  thousands  of  coke  ovens,  built  this  way,  in  ranges, 
and  a  night  ride  th  rough  the  coke  region  affords  a  novel  sight.  The  indus- 
try, as  you  here  see  it  carried  on,  gives  employment  to  thousands  of  men, — 
millions  of  tons  of  coke  being  turned  out  yearly.  Coke  was  made  IK-IV 
seventy-five  years  ago,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years  that  its  especial  value  has  become  known  and  the  business  has 
grown  to  such  art  extent.  Coke  is  made  at  many  mines  outside  of  what 
is  known  as  the  coke  region,  the  slack,  which  would  othenvise  be  wasted, 
being  used  in  its  manufacture.  Coke  is  made  in  some  foreign  countries, 
also. 

Coking,  as  now  carried  on,  is  a  wasteful  process.  An  enormous 
volume  of  gas  gqes  up  into  the  atmosphere  every  day,  in  the  clouds  of 
smoke  everywhere  rising.  So  great  is  this  volume  of  gas,  that  tin-re  has 
been  serious  talk  of  forming  great  companies  to  lay  immense  pipes  to  carry 
it  to  the  eastern  cities— Philadelphia,  New  York  and  others.  It  is  esti- 
mated, too,  that  |2o,ooo, ooo  is  lost  yearly  in  this  district,  in  tar,  ammonia 
and  sulphur  given  off  by  the  coal,  and  which  might  be  saved  by  the  use 
of  some  other  process  of  coking. 

Talking  of  gas  suggests  an  idea.  We  will  not  stay  here  until  to-mor- 
row, but  will  take  a  train  back  to  town,  and  close  our  sight-seeing  by  vis- 
iting the  gas-works  to-night." 


XIX. 
SOME  FIGURES. 


"  How  much  coal  mined  this  year?  I'm  sorry,  Ned,  that  I  can  not 
tell  you ;  the  year  is  just  out,  you  know,  and  the  figures  covering  the 
amount  of  its  business,  in  any  line,  may  not  be  published  for  many  weeks 
or  months,  as  it  seems  to  require  a  very  long  time  to  get  them  together. 
I  can,  however,  give  you  the  figures  for  1886,  which,  of  course,  will  be 
reasonably  near  those  for  this  year — though  perhaps  a  million  or  more  of 
tons  less. 


SOME  FIGURES.  85 

The  following  figures  for  1886,  for  our  whole  country,  are  given  by  our 
Government  officers  : 

Tons.        Value  at  mines. 

Anthracite  (Pennsylvania) 39,035,446      $73,706,957 

Bituminous  (all  fields) 76,119,120        78,481,056 


Totals 115,154,566    $152,188,013 

More  than  one-third  of  all  the  coal  mined,  and  worth  nearly  half  the 
total  value,  came  from  the  anthracite  region,  you  notice.  And,  would  you 
believe  it?  the  first  coal  shipped  from  that  region — to  Philadelphia,  in 
1803 — was  pronounced  worthless,  as  they  had  not  then  learned  how  to 
properly  burn  it ! 

By  the  way,  the  first  coal-mining  in  ,'our  country  was  at  Richmond, 
Virginia,  coal  being  sent  to  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston,  in  ships, 
as  early  as  1790.  Anthracite  was  first  used  in  1768,  by  blacksmiths.  Reg- 
ular mining  of  anthracite  was  begun  in  1820. 

We  need  not  be  afraid  of  running  out  of  coal  soon.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  anthracite  field  can  supply  us  for  200  years  with  100,000,000  tons 
per  year  !  while  the  Pittsburgh  bituminous  bed  is  estimated  to  contain,  in 
its  3,000  square  miles,  20,000,000,000  ! — enough  for  2000  years  !" 

"Although  the  electric  light  is  already  so  largely  taking  the  place  of 
gas  for  lighting  our  streets,  stores  and  houses,  as  you  see,  we  cannot  yet 
get  along  without  the  gas— and,  of  course,  then  we,  must  have  gas-works. 
As  I  told  you  yesterday,  on  our  way  back  from  the  coke  region,  gas  that 
we  burn  to  make  light  is  made  from  coal — bituminous  coal.  In  natural 
gas  regions,  it  is  true,  the  natural  gas  is  burned  for  light,  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, as  well  as  for  heat  ;  but  very  largely,  even  in  such  regions,  and  en- 
tirely so,  in  others,  the  gas  used  for  light — illuminating  gas— is  made  from 
coal  by  burning  it — as  you  shall  see,  up  this  street  now,  a  few  steps. 
Here  we  are  ;  we  will  pass  first  into  the  retort-room,  at  the  left. 

How  smoky  and  dingy  !  and  what  a  queer  looking  place  generally. 
Those  odd-shaped  iron  things,  sticking  out  of  the  brick  wall  and  with 
pipes  running  up  from  them,  Miss  Inquisitive,  are  the  ends  of  the  retorts 
—all  of  which  are  now  closed.  The  retorts?  They  are  the  places  in 
which  the  coal  is  burned,  to  make  the  gas — as  you  will  see  later.  These 
square  doors  at  the  bottom  are  furnace  doors — fire  being  kept  in  the 
furnaces,  below  the  retorts,  to  heat  up  the  coal  when  the  retorts  are  fresh- 
ly filled.  The — but  let  us  watch  that  man  yonder,  who  is  about  to 
open  one  of  the  retorts.  The  door,"you  see,  lifts  entirely  off,  being  held 
in  place  by  latches  and  that  screw-arrangement.  What  a  beautiful,  white 
glowing  mass  is  lying  in  the  retort ;  it  is  coke,  such  as  we  saw  made  in 
the  ovens,  to-day.  These  retorts,  you  see,  are,  in  effect,  little  coke  ovens. 
Now  he  is  pulling  out  the  coke  with  his  long  iron  hook  ; — hot  work,  you 
may  be  sure.  Now  we  can  see  the  shape  and  size  of  the  retort  ;  it  has  a 
flat  bottom  and  rounding,  or  oval,  sides  and  top.  It  is,  I  should  think, 
about  a  foot  high  and  runs  back  about  eight  or  ten  feet  into  the  brick- 


,,  SOME  FIGURES. 

(O 

work  Here  he  comes  with  an  iron  wagon  full  of  coal ;  we  will  watch 
him  fill  the  retort  again.  Whew !  how  quickly  the  coal  bursts  into  a 
blaze  as  he  shovels  it  in  !— and  look  at  the  smoke  pouring  out  the  door  ! 
The  retorts  hold  about  200  pounds  of  coal  each,  which  will  yiel 


IN   THE    GAS-WORKS. 


i  ooo  cubic  feet  of  gas,— 1,000  cubic  feet  being  such  a  quantity  as  would 
fill  a  room  or  space  ten  feet  wide,  ten  feet  long  and  ten  feet  high  ;  that  is 
it  is  a  space  ten  feet  in  every  direction.     Now  he  has  filled  the  retort  and 
is  about  to  put  onthedoor-using  another  door,  however  which  has  beei 
prepared  for  the  purpose  by  having  clay  spread  over, 
make  the  retort  air-tight,  which  it  must  be. 


SOME  FIGURES.  87 

•  By  the  action  of  the  heat,  as  the  coal  is  burned  in  the  retorts,  it  is 
separated  into  the  [different  substances  of  which  it  is  composed.  The 
solid  part  remains  in  the  retort  as  coke,— just  like  what  we  saw  made,  to- 
day ;  for  these  closed  retorts  act  like  the  coke-ovens.  The  other  sub- 
stances— the  gas,  tar,  ammonia,  etc.,  in  more  or  less  liquid  or  vaporous 
form,  leave  the  retorts  and  pass  up  these  large  pipes,  here  in  front,  and 
into  that  big,  sooty  cylinder,  upon  the  top  of  the  brick-work,  and  which 
is  all  the  time  about  half  full  of  tar.  From  this  cylinder  the  gas,  tar  and 
liquids  containing  ammonia,  etc.,  pass  out  through  that  pipe  you  see  run- 
ning from  the  farther  end  of  the  cylinder  through  the  wall — and  which  we 
will  follow.  Here,  you  see,  it  comes  down  into  this  little  room,  and  goes  on 
through  the  floor.  There  is  a  hole  or  well  under  the  floor,  called  the 
tar-well,  and  the  tar  and  much  of  the  ammoniacal  liquors  are  left  in  this 
well,  while  the  gas,  being  very  light,  rises  to  the  top  of  the  well  and  then 
passes  out  through  a  pipe  to  the  condensers — in  here  ;  there  they  are, — 
those  big  pipes  doubled  up  and  down  in  a  long  row,  against  the  wall. 
The  gas  must  pass  through  all  these  pipes,  around  the  bend  at  top  and 
bottom,  and  as  it  does  so,  it  becomes  cooled  and  some  of  the  liquids  which 
have  still  remained  with  it,  as  vapor,  are  condensed — like  steam,  the  vapor 
of  water,  when  it  touches  a  cold  surface — and  run  down  into  the  box  at 
the  bottom  of  the  pipes,  to  be  drawn  off.  The  gas  itself,  now  more  pure, 
passes  on  through  the  whole  length  of  the  condensers,  and  then  by  a 
pipe  into  the  purifiers — these  big  square  chests — where  the  remaining  im- 
purities are  removed.  Here  is  one  open  ;  it  has,  you  see,  a  great  lot  of 
slatted  shelves,  smeared  with  lime,  while  lime  covers  the  bottom  also. 
Into  one  of  these  purifiers — the  covered  ones — I  mean,  though — the  gas 
pours,  as  it  comes  from  the  condensing  pipes/  and  winds  in  and  out 
among  these  shelves  before  it  passes  out  again,  through  a  pipe,  into  the 
n,ext  one.  The  lime  on  the  shelves  takes  from  the  gas  the  sulphur  and 
some  other  impurities,  and  it  is  thus  left  fit  for  use  in  our  houses  and 
stores  and  on  the  streets. 

But  it  doesn't  go  straight  to  the  places  where  it  is  to  be  burnt,  how- 
ever ;  it  is  first  all  collected  in  the  big  iron  tank  or  gas-holder — incorrectly 
called  a  gasometer -,  meaning  a  gas  measurer,  which  the  tank  is  not.  But 
on  the  way  to  the  gas-holder,  as  we'll  call  it,  the  gas  does  pass  through  a 
measurer — the  meter.  The  meter,  you  see,  is  a  sheet-iron  box.  It  is 
partly  filled  with  water  in  which  is  placed  two  cylinders  divided  into  a 
number  of  long,  three-cornered  spaces  by"  partitions  running  lengthwise 
through  it  You  will  have  to  imagine  this,  as  we  cannot  see  it  through 
the  box.  As  the  gas  comes  into  the  meter,  through  the  pipe,  it  enters 
the  spaces  in  the  cylinder,  and  as  it  fills  them  turns  the  cylinder  round 
and  round.  Each  space  in  the  cylinder  holds  so  many  feet  of  gas, 
together  holding  ten  feet.  Every  time  the  cylinder  goes  round,  ten 
feet  of  gas  has  gone  through;  this  the  meter  shows  by  the  pointer  on  this 
dial;  and  every  tenth  time.it  is  turned  (or  hundred  feet  measured,  that 
is)  the  pointer  on  this  next  dial  is  turned  to  show  the  fact ;  and  so  on,  for 


88  SOME  FIGURES. 

thousands,  ten  thousands  and  hundred  thousands  of  feet.  So,  you 
see  all  the  gas  made  is  here  measured.  As  it  is  carried  around  by 
the  cylinder,  it  passes  out  through  another  pipe  and  into  the  wbig  gas- 
holders,— out  here. 

They  are,  you  see,  big,  round,  covered  iron  tanks,  like  the  oil  tanks, 
— only,  instead  of  standing  on  the  ground,  each  is  floating  in  the  water, 
in  a  big,  deep,  round,  brick-walled  hole,  Did  I  say  floating  ?  Yes,  ma'am, 
floating  ;  you  see,  the  gas  pouring  into  them,  which  it  does  through  a  pipe 
coming  up  from  the  bottom,  and  standing  above  the  water — holds  them 
up,  and  as  more  and  more  pours  in,  lifts  them  up  until  the  top  reaches 
the  catches  on  these  strong  iron  pillars,  standing  beside  each  one.  No, 
they  are  not  so  high,  now  ; — you  are  right.  But,  you  see,  the  burning  of 
thousands  of  lights  on  the  streets  and  in  the  houses  has  drawn  out  much 
of  the  gas,  and  so  the  tanks  have  been  lowered  ;  by  morning  they  will  be 
much  lower,  as  the  gas,  by  that  time,  will  have  been  nearly  all  used  out. 
By  the  pressure  of  these  great  iron  tanks,  or  gasometers,  the  gas  in  them 
is  forced  out  through  all  the  streets  in  great  iron  pipes,  or  mains,  and  from 
these  into  the  houses  and  stores,  through  small  pipes,  and  is  ready,  at  the 
striking  of  a  match  and  the  turning  of  the  stop-cock,  to  blaze  away,  to  our 
great  convenience  and  comfort.  Between  the  big  street  pipes  and  the 
burners  in  the  houses — usually  in  the  cellars — is  placed  a  meter,  like  the 
big  one  we  just  saw,  only  sm.illri ,  which  measures  and  records  the  num- 
ber of  cubic  feet  of  gas  burned  in  each  house,  and  which  the  people  in 
the  house  must  pay  for,  at  so  much  for  each  1,000  cubic  feet. 

Now,  let  us  go  home,  passing  through  the  retort-room  again.  Another 
retort  is  being  filled,  you  see  ;  and  so  the  work  goes  on — a  steady  stream 
of  gas  flowing  from  the  retorts  to  the  condensing  pipes  and  purifiers,  and 
on  through  the  meter  into  the  big  gasometers,  and  then,  as  needed,  out 
to  houses  and  stores.  This  man  is  shoveling  some  of  the  coke  into  the 
furnaces  under  the  sets  of  retorts  ;  what  is  not  so  used  is  sold.  A  consider- 
able quantity  of  ammonia — hartshorn — is  also  produced  in  gas-making, 
and  is  sold  ;  as  is,  too,  a  smaller  quantity  of  sulphur.  There  is  not  so 
much  waste  at  gas-works  as  at  coke-works,  you  see.  Even  the  black, 
sticky,  bad-smelling  tar  has  its  uses,  and  several  of  them  ;  among  them, 
one  of  which  none  of  you  would  ever  suspect  it  of  being  guilty,  I'm 
sure.  It  is  of  no  use  to  have  you  guess  ;  so  I  will  tell  you.  From  this 
tar  there  is  made  the  beautiful  and  brilliant  aniline  colors  !  the  discovery 
of  which  has  been  of  untold  value  to  the  world.  Why,  some  of  the  tar  in 
this  very  barrel,  here,  may  furnish  the  substance  which  shall  color  the 
royal  robes  of  some  queen  or  princess, — or  the  gay  ribbons  of  Miss  Ruffle- 
ton,  here  !  Astonishing,  indeed.  But  come,  we  must  be  off. 

Well,  here  we  are  at  our  lodging  place  again.  We  cannot  stop  to 
talk  longer,  now,  as  we  must  start  for  home  early  in  the  morning  ;— I'll 
answer  your  questions  on  the  way,  Miss  Inquisitive. 

Good  night,  then— all  of  you." 


CONCLUDING    CHAPTER. 


m&n 


After  piloting  the  "  Boys  and  Girls  of  America" 
through  localities  where  coal  is  mined  and  prepared 
for  market,  and  explaining  everything  that  pertains 

thereto  (within  the  prescribed  limits  of  a  useful  Christmas  story),  would  feel  as  if  he 
had  failed  to  perform  his  entire  duty,  if  he  neglected  to  call  their  attention  to  a  few 
additional  important  facts.  He  would  state  before  bidding  them  a  final  adieu  for 
the  year  1888,  that  they  are  indebted  to  what  is  popularly  known  as 

"THE  GREAT  ROCK  ISLAND  ROUTE," 

or  its  General  Manager,  for  the  pleasure  they  have  derived  from  the  perusal  of  this  and 
previous  Christmas  and  New  Year  Annuals;  an  enjoyment  (he  trusts)  to  be  realized 
with  the  advent  of  every  coming  year.  This  Souvenir  (like  those  which  have  preceded 
it)  is  a  compliment  intended  not  only  for  the  youth  of  our  Country,  but  for  their 
parents,  aunts,  uncles,  older  brothers,  sisters  and  grown  up  relatives— all  in  fact  who 
are  kindly  disposed  to  the  ROCK  ISLAND  system,  who  have  traveled  over  any  of  its 
main  liuet,  branches  or  extensions,  or  contemplate  doing  so  at  any  future  time. 

would  remind  such  friends  and  would-be  patrons, 
that  on  no  other  railway  in  the  world  can  such 

---*  «  -^  .-  ^^^  ^  !  incomparable,  elegant,  v  convenient,  luxurious  and 
beautiful  Day  Coaches,  Dining  Cars,  Pullman  Palace  Sleepers  and1  Reclining  Chair  CarS  • 
be  found;  that  at  all  terminal  points  including  Council  Bluffs,  St.'josephi'Atchisoh, 
Leaven  worth,  Kansas  City,  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  transfers  are  made  in  splendid 
Union  Depots;  that  the  ROCK  ISLAND  offers  a  choice  of  routes  to  California,  the 
Pacific  Coast  and  intermediate  towns  and  cities  west,  northwest  and  southwest  from 
Chicago,  and  in  corresponding  opposite  directii  ns;  that  it  traverses  the  finest  culti- 
vated portions  of  the  Middle  West,  including  the  great  states  of  Illinois,  Iowa,  Min- 
nesota, Dakota  and  Missouri,  and  has  opened  up  new  avenues  of  travel  and  traffic 
to  all  parts  of  southern  Nebraska,  interior  Kansas  and  points  beyond ;  that  its  Fast 
Express  Trains  move  with  uniform  speed  and  regularity  on  a  smooth,  steel  track, 
crossing  mighty  rivers  over  bridges  of  stone  and  iron ;  that  its  facilities  and  accom- 
odationsare  unsurpassed;  that  its  employes  are  polite,  attentive  and  trustworthy, 
and  that  ladies  traveling  alone  or  even  children,  are  as  safe  from  harm  (and  always  as 
comfortable)  as  in  their  own  parlors  at  home,  while  under  their  protecting  care. 
Hoping  you  will  not  forget  these  suggestive  facts  to  which  he  briefly  invites  your 
considerate  attention,  all  that  now  remains  for 
to  do,  is  to  tell  you,  (if  you  desire  to  be  more 
thoroughly  posted),  that  you  can  obtain  tickets, 
maps,  folders,  copies  of  the  Western  Trail,  or  whatever  information  you  want  in  regard 
to  rates,  routes  or  connections  by  applying  in  person  or  by  letter  to 


E.  ST.  JOHN, 

General  Manager. 


CHICAGO,  ILL. 


E.  A.  HOLBROOK, 

Gen'l  Ticket  &  Pass.  Agt. 


OR- 


G.  L.  RHODES,  City  Passenger  Agent.  104  Clark 

St.,  Chicago. 
S.  S.  STEVENS,  General  Agent,  1305  Farnam  St.. 

Omaha,  Neb. 

MATT  CLAIR,  Traveling  Agent,  Omaha,  Neb. 
A  B.  FARNSWORTH,  General  Eastern  Passen- 
ger Agent,  257  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
W.  J.  LEAHY,  Traveling  Agent  New  York  State 

257  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
E.  W.  THOMPSON,   New    England   Passenger 

Agent,  296  Washington  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
JOHNT  DOUGLASS,  Travelin    Passenger  A g't. 

296  Washington  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
I.  L.  LOOM1S,  Passenger  Agent,  Middle  District, 

111  South  Ninth  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
JOS.  A.  SHEPPARD,  Southeast  Passenger  Ag't. 

Chicago,  111. 
H.  S.  PHILPS,  Traveling  Passenger  Agpnt  for 

Quebec  and  the  Maritime  Provinces,  154  St. 

James  Street,  Montreal.  P.  Q. 
D.  L.  CAVEN,  Traveling  Passenger  Agent  for 

the  Province  of  Ontario,  35  Yonge  Street, 

Toronto,  Ontario. 


C.  H.  HOLDRIDGE,  N.  E.  Passenger  Agent,  cor. 

Lamed  and  Griswold  Sts.,  Detroit,  Mich. 
M.  P.  WASHBDRN,  Passenger  Agent  for  the 

Northwest,  Chicago,  111. 
CLINTuN  JONES,   General   Agent,    36    Mont- 

gomery St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
F.  W.  THOMPSON,  Traveling  Agent,  36  Mont- 

gomery St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
J.  F.  FUGAZI,  Italian  Passenger  Agent,  5  Mont- 

gomery Ave,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
CHAS.  KENNEDY,  General  Agent,  Rock  Island 

and  Albert  Lea  Routes,  3  Washington  St., 

Portland,  Oregon. 
A.  H.  MOFFET,  General   South-western  Pass- 

enger Agent,  632  Main  St..  and  1042  Union 

Ave.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
W.  H.  FIRTH,  Traveling  Passenger  Agent  for 

the  Southwest,  532  Main  St.,  Kansas  City,Mo, 
JOHN  T.  SMITH,  Trav.  Pass.  Ag't,  532  Main  St., 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  &  9  Windsor  BPck.Denver 
C.  C.  STOWELL,  Traveling  Agent,  Chicago,  111. 
WM.  RICKEY,  Passenger  Ag't,Davenport,Iowa. 


,  ,,. 

W.   l.   CHEEVER,  Passenger   Agent,   Central 
District,  Peoria,  111. 


n'58RUP 
DEC  17 1952  L 

1974* 

• 

o«c 


JMI 


till 


LD21 


_100m-7,'52(A2528sl6)476 


o\v. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


